Glass 




Booki_ii 



• ^^'^l:J'^ 






>-"(" A 

BIO&RAPIY 



JOHN RANDOLPH, 



OF ROANOKE, 



A SELECTION EEOM HIS SPEECHES. 



LEMUEL SAWYER, 



FORHERLY OF NORTH CAROLINA, AND FOR SIXTEEN TEARS AN ASSOCIATE IN C0MORBS3 WITH 

MR. BAMDOLPH. 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM ROBINSON, 

No. 206 Broadway. 

1844. 



« 4 



, 4- 
U1 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by 

WILLIAM ROBINSON, 

in the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Preliminary Remarks — Genealogy of the Randolph Family — Birth of John 
Randolph — Early Studies — Enters Princeton College — Aflair of Honor 
with Robert B. Taylor — Opportunities for Information with respect to 
the Foreign Policy of this Country — Incident at a Gaming-table — En- 
ters into possession of his Patrimonial Estate — First elected to Congress 
for his own District in 1799, 5 

CHAPTER II. 

Mr. Randolph's Maiden Speech — Difficulty with two Officers of the Na- 
vy — Made Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means — Indefati- 
gable in the Discharge of his Legislative Duties — Deliberations on the 
Cession of Louisiana by Spain and France — Impeachment of .Judge 
Chase — The Yazoo Claim — Mr. Randolph's Speech — Debate on the 
Proposition to present a Sword to General Eaton — Sudden Change in 
Mr. Randolph's Political Sentiments — True Cause of his Hostility to the 
Administration — Judge Innes of Ohio — Burr's Conspiracy — Letter of 
Burr to Wilkinson — Anecdotes of Mr. Randolph — Debate on the Em- 
bargo Message — Case of Mr. Key, 13 

CHAPTER III. 

Contest on Electing the Clerk of the House — Debate on the Application of 
certain Appropriations — The Republican Party nominate Mr. Madison 
for President — Inquiry into the Conduct of General Wilkinson^ — De- 
bate on the Embargo Question — Mr. Randolph's Resolutions on National 
Defence — Quarrel between Randolph and Eppes — and between Ran- 
dolph and Alston — Mr Randolph's Style and Address as an Orator — 
His Person^ll Habits and Character, 33 



IV CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Remarks of Randolph on Loans and Taxes — Debate on the Subject — Re- 
solution for the Reduction of the Army and Na\'y — Debate on the Sub- 
ject of the Repeal of the Act interdicting Commercial Intercourse — 
Resolution on the Demise of Lieut. Col. W. Washington — Further De- 
bates on the Non-Intercourse Law — Congress convened by Proclamation 
— ^Petition of Matthew Lyon — Night Sittings of Congress — Convention 
of Commerce between Great Britain and the United States — Mr. Ran- 
dolph's Speech on the Subject — Active Part taken by him on the Reve- 
nue Bills — Debate on the Constitutionality of the Appointment of P. B. 
Porter, as Commissioner — The Presidency and other stirring Questions 
— Repeal of the Compensation Act — -Animadversions of Mr. Randolph 
on certain Irregularities in the Treasury Department — Resolution con- 
cerning OHver H. Perry, of the U. S. Navy — ^Mr. Randolph's Motion 
on the Contingent Expenses of the House of Representatives — His 
Speech on the Missouri Question — Duel between Commodores Decatur 
and Barron — Proceedings of the House thereupon — Mr. Randolph's 
Speech on Appropriations for the Indian Department — Debate on the Ap- 
portionment of the Representation — Death of William Pinckney, and 
Oration by Mr. Randolph — Election of Mr. Randolph to tlie Senate of 
the United States — Letter from John Tyler — Pubhc Diiniers given to Mr. 
Randolph — Appointed Minister to Russia by General Jackson — Singu- 
lar Conduct on that Occasion — Visit to England — Debate on the Subject 
of his Salary as Mmister— His Death' — Disputes concerning his Will — 
Anecdotes, 4S 

CHAPTER V. 

Mr. Randolph's Voyage to England — -Visit to Newgate — His Society courted 
by the Nobility and Gentry^ — Obtains the private Entree to the House of 
Commons, 113 

CHAPTER VI. 

Letters to T. B. Dudley and others, 117 

CHAPTER VII. 

Difficult to find a Parallel to John Randolph — More splendid than solid as 
an Orator — Want of Consistency — Fine Taste — Wit — Powers of Ridi- 
cule — His Friendship unstable — His Appetite for Money, . . 122 

Appendix, 121 



BIOGRAPHY 



JOHI RUDOLPH 



CHAPTER I. 

HIS BIRTH PARENTAGE EARLY EDUCATION RELATIONS. 

We are forced to pause a moment at the commencement of this "work, to 
express our wonder and astonishment that no fegii^r biography of John Ran- 
dolph has yet made its appearance. We should have supposed that some of 
his many gifted relatives would have felt it a sacred duty to have taken the lead, in 
transmitting to future ages, in an imperishable memoir, the great founder of their 
name and fortunes. 

So lofty a theme is well calculated to rouse the ambition of the higher order 
of native talent, and to insure a rich harvest of laurels and wealth to the success- 
ful adventurer in this unoccupied field of hterature. He has long passed from 
among us, his " sun has made a glorious set," but no one has ventured to mark 
" the bright track of his resplendent car." In the " Port-FoHo" of 1 81 2, is a print 
of Mr. Randolph from a miniature hkeness, furnished at the instance of Dr. 
Nathaniel Chapman of Philadelphia, with a promise that it should be followed 
with a biographical sketch in a succeeding number. Some overtures were made 
to Mr. Randolph, on behalf of Dr. Chapman, through Theodore Bland Dudley, 
Mr. Randolph's nephew and correspondent, a student attending the medical lec- 
tures of Dr. Chapman and his brethren of the Faculty, for some materials for 
the projected work. Mr. Randolph, in reply, tenders his thanks to Dr. Chap- 
man for his good intentions, but says his life, though eventful, did not afford 
the requisite materials. In a letter written in the November following, he directs 
his nephew to infoi-m Dr. Chapman that he would give him some mevioires pour 
servir, if he had an amanuensis. In another letter, written to his nephew, of the 
19th of December following, he expresses some dissatisfaction at the print given 
of him in the Port-FoHo. " I really regret," says he, " that you lent the minia- 
ture for the purpose of having it so wretchedly engraved." Whether he felt 
2 



b BIOGRAPHYOF 

his " life" unsafe in the hands of a physician — whether he thought he had 
undergone torture enough already — whether from a knowledge of their con- 
tracted sphere of thought, arising from their education for a particular profession, 
they might not be too apt to infuse a little tincture of their peculiar cast of mind 
or bias, or if we may be permitted to use one of their own terms, idiosyncracy, 
into the work — whether it would not still prove physic, or smell strongly of the 
shop, I am not able to say, but the promises held out by the learned Doctor not 
being sufficiently encouraged from the right quarter, or from professional avoca- 
tions, have never been performed. 

Perhaps, like Alexander, he deemed no artist worthy of taking his portrait 
but Apelles, and as such a person was hard to be found, it would have been 
well both for him and the public that he had treated them with the more fehci- 
tous presentment of his own autobiography. Under these circiunstances, in the 
absence of even an apology for a desired work of the kind, after waiting in vain 
for more than ten years for an abler pen than mine to meet the urgent necessity 
of the occasion, though with a fuU sense of my inability to accomplish the un- 
dertaking in a proper manner, I am induced by several considerations to hazard 
the attempt. As nothing in relation to the subject of this memoir caii be unac- 
companied with interest, I am flattered with the hope that if I can succeed in 
erecting a structure, however modest, simple, and unpretending, provided it dis- 
play some proportion and symmetry of parts, the humble artificer will be unob- 
served, while the spectator is absorbed in the richness and splendor of the mate- 
rials. My opportunities of possessing information on the subject, I am willing 
to admit, are sufficient to justify the public in tlieir expectations of obtaining a 
work, more worthy the exalted subject on which I have engaged to treat, than 
any I can pretend to supply. If, however, a firm determination on my part to 
give a fair and impartial history of the life of the illustrious subject of my sketch, 
by presenting him as he was, at least as I viewed him, without exaggerating 
his merits " or setting down aught in malice," shall entitle me to a due share of 
indulgence from a generous community for any deficiency that may appear in 
its execution, I shall spare no pains to earn and deserve it. 

The parents of Mr. Randolph were John Randolph of Roanoke and Frances 
Bland, daughter of Theodore Bland of Cawsons, of the family of Bland in the 
West Riding of Yorkshire. They were married in 1762, and his father died in 
Mattox in 1776. John was born in June, in the year 1773, at Mattox in Chester- 
field, and was the youngest of three sons, Richard and Theodoric Bland. The i 
odoric died soon after he became of age, of pulmonary consumption. Richard 
married the daughter of Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe, and was a man of gi-eat 
personal beauty and superior talents. After Richard's death, his widow's sister 
married Gouverneur Morris of Morrisiana, Westchester County, in the State of 
New York, and by him had a son, Gouverneur Morris, Esq., who resides on the 
patrimonial estate. 

Richard had two sons by his wife Judith Randolph, John St. George and 
Tudor. The latter died in England, in 1814. John St. George is deaf and 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 7 

dumb, and has been for twenty years confined in the Lunatic Asylum in Balti- 
more. The mother afterwards intermarried with Judge St. George Tucker, the 
author of an edition of Blackstone's Commentaries, in which the laws of Virginia 
are engrafted on those of England. By Judge Tucker she had three children^ 
Henry St. George, a member of Congress from the Winchester district for the 
sef5sions of 1818 and some successive ones, afterwards Chief Justice of Vir- 
ginia and now Professor of Law in the University of that State; Beverley 
Tucker, Professor of Law in the College of WilUam and Mary ; and a daugh- 
ter, married to Judge Coater, one of the late Judges of the Court of Appeals. 

Mr. Randolph took much pride in claiming his descent from Pocahontas. He 
sums up his genealogy to the 7th degree of descent in himself, thus : Pocahontas ; 
2d, Thomas Rolfe ; 3d, Jane Boiling ; 4th, John Boiling the elder ; 5th, John Boi- 
ling the younger ; 6th, Jane Randolph ; 7th, John Randolph of Roanoke the elder ; 
8th, John Randolph of Roanoke , himself ; being seven degrees from her, accord- 
ing to his enumeration. Doctor Smith of Princeton, in his essay on "the 
variety of the complexion of the human species," had given only four descents 
from Pocahontas, and Mr. Randolph published a letter in the National Gazette 
of Philadelphia on the 2d o f December, 1 81 1 , for the purpose, principally, of cor- 
recting the Doctor's statement, and with that view gave his full and complete 
genealogy. He cultivated his genealogical tree with great care, and scrupled 
not, upon occasions, to lop off a branch or shoot that he deemed unworthy the 
parent stock. He accused Burke, the historian of Virginia, with falsifying the 
account of the descendants of the Indiarr Princess by making Jane Bolhng his 
grandmother marry a Boiling: which mistake he says was intentional on the 
part of Burke, as he had the Boiling manuscript before him. 

Mr. Burke's account of the first union of the two races, by the marriage of Poca- 
hontas with Mr. Rolfe, is too interesting to omit in giving a rapid trace of the illustri- 
ous line of their posterity. They were married at Jamestown with the approbation 
of Powhatan, and their marriage cemented a friendship between him and the colo- 
nists which lasted till her death. She soon after accompanied her husband to Eng- 
land, where, after a most tender intemew TOth her old friend John Smith, she was 
presented to Queen Elizabeth, and received with marks of royal grace and favor. 
She had an apartment allotted for her in the palace, was baptized under the name of 
Rebecca, and by her modesty, good sense and virtuous deportment, enlisted univer- 
sal regard and friendship. Business requiring his return to his own country, Mr. 
Rolfe set out for Gravesend with his royal consort and an infant son two years 
of age, for the purpose of embarking in a ship especially ordered for their pas- 
.sage to Virginia. On arriving at Gravesend, Pocahontas sickened and died ia 
1617, after a short ilhress, and in her last moments exhibited all her native for- 
titude, beautified by her Christian meekness and resignation. Thomas, their 
child, was left in England to be brought up and educated by his uncle, Henry 
Rolfe of London. When he grew up to manhood, he was invested with an 
important office in the revenue service, returned to Virginia and became a man 
of wealth and eminence. He left behind him an only daughter, who was mar- 
ried to Col. Robert Bolhng. By him she had one son. Major John, the father 



S BIOGRAPHYOF 

to Col. John Boiling the younger. He left a daughter, Jane Randolph, the 
grandmother of Mr. Randolph, according to the pedigree given before. 

In tracing his descendants, the branches become numerous and ramified with 
some of the first families in the State, including Thomas Jefferson. This prohfic 
progeny sprung from the loins of William Randolph of Yorkshire, who settled at 
Turkey Island in Virginia. 1st. His son Peter of Chalsworth, father of the late 
Beverley, and of Mrs. Fitzhugh of Chalham, who thereupon sold Turkey Island 
to his xmcle Ryland — and WilHam of Wilton, grandfather of the present Wilton 
— Mrs. Chiswell and Mrs. Price. 2d. Thomas of Tuckahoe, great grandfather 
of Thomas Mann Randolph, Mr. Jefferson's son-in-law. 3d. Isham of Dun- 
genes, who had William of Bristol — Thomas of Dungenes — Jane married to 
Peter Jefferson and bore him the celebrated Thomas, former President — Ajine 
married to James Pleasants, sen., father of Mr. Randolph's colleague, James 
Pleasants, jun., afterwards a senator and governor of the State — Sukey married 
to Carter Harrison of Clifton — 1st Richard of Charles married Anne Mease — Jane 
Walker Brett, Ryland of Turkey Island— Elizabeth married Redder Mease — 
John of Roanoke. 4th. Sir John (Kn't.) father of Peyton Randolph, president 
of Congress, and of John, Edmund's father. Attorney General of the Colonies, 
and whose lineal descendant, Edmimd, Avas Attorney General, and afterwards Sec- 
retary of State under President Washington ; and tracing the descent down, it com- 
prehends in its chain Hugh Nelson, his colleague in Congress, and Stith, the histo- 
rian of Virginia. Thus it appears that, including the root which is planted in 
the State of New York, the descendants of that renowned Princess are both nu- 
merous and respectable enough to transmit her blood, and it is hoped, her virtues 
to the latest posterity.* 

The Barony, as Mr. Randolph used to call it, or Roanoke, was a grant 
by royal patent, probably as early as the time of Queen Anne. By the 
death of his brother Theodoric without issue, he became its sole proprietor, and 
I beUeve, of another called Farmville, and after Richard's death, of Bizarre, 
where he used to spend some of his time, and dates many of his letters. Al- 
though he lost his father when he was only about three or four years old, he found 
in his mother a preceptress weU calculated to instil into hjs tender mind, not 
only the mdiments of learning, but those moral precepts and Christian faith, as 
a solid and useful foimdation for the liberal education of his riper years. He 
always spoke of his mother in terms of the warmest affection, and never men- 
tioned her name without invoking God's blessing upon her. Whatever mental 
culture he possessed, he acknowledged he owed to her assiduous care. She 
taught his infant lips to pray, and never, even when he was in the barren wilds 
of unbehef , could he silence that small still voice of memory, which recalled to 
him the days of his youth when she used to make him kneel beside her and 
repeat the Lord's Prayer. 

According to his own statement, his opportunities of acquiring a regular 
classical education in his youth, were not as favorable as we should suppose 

" Though this account may be clear to the order of Heralds, it is a little obscure to common 
readers, but as it ie his own, wc dare not alter it. 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 9 

from his subsequent accomplishments and pre-eminence as a scholar. In a 
letter to his nephew, Theodoric B. Dudley, dated Georgetown, Febraary 5th, 
1806, he writes, " At your time of life, my son, I was even more ineligibly 
placed than you are; and would have given worlds for private seclusion and 
books. • I never had either. You will smile when I tell you that the first map 
I ever saw was one of Virginia when I was nearly fifteen, and that I never, 
till the age of manhood, possessed any treatise on Geography other than an 
obsolete gazetteer of Salmon ; and my sole atlas was the five maps, if you will 
honor them with that name, contained in the gazetteer, each not quite as big 
as this page, of the three great eastern and the two western divisions of the 
globe. The best and only Latin dictionary I ever owned you now possess, i 
had a small Greek Lexicon bought with my own pocket money, and many other 
books acquired in the same way (from 10 to 20 years of age), but those were 
merely books of amusement. I never was with any preceptor, one only 
excepted (and he left school after I had been there two months), who woiild 
deserve to be called a Latin or Greek scholar. I never had any master of modem 
languages but an old Frenchman (some gentleman's valet probably), who could 
neither write nor spell. I mention these things, my child, that you may not 
be disheartened. 'Tis true I am a very ignorant man, who is thought to have 
received a regular education." 

In his letter to Doctor Smith, before alluded to, he informs us that he 
and his brother Theodoric entered Princeton in the fall of 1787, then in his 
sixteenth year, and where the Doctor occupied a Professor's chair, but left in the 
December following, with no very favorable opinion of that venerable seat of 
learning. But what of all this ? What were these and a hundred other and 
greater difficulties in his way ? His genius could conquer them, and by a 
mighty grasp seize upon the spoils of a life of toilsome study. As Judge 
Tucker, with his wife, removed to Wilhamsburgh, where he was appointed 
Professor of Law in the college, about the close cf the revolutionary war, before 
Mr. Randolph arrived at years of manhood, and where his half-brothers after- 
wards completed their education, he was placed in the grammar school of the 
college, as a member of the Judge's family, and after that advanced to some of its 
higher classes. Here he had ample scope for his ambition, and was in no want 
of means and opportunity to gratify it most fully. And without recurring to its 
records to furnish the evidence, we feel well assured that he did not leave its 
walls without obtaining its highest honors. 

While at college, he had an afl^air of honor with a fellow graduate, Robert 
B. Taylor of Norfolk. They had taken opposite sides in politics, and were 
both fiery spirits and fuU of Virginia pride of chivalry. Their quarrel arose in 
a debating society to which they both belonged, from that most fertile cause, 
pohtics. For some personalities of an unpalatable nature, Mr. Taylor chal- 
lenged him. They met in a field near the town and the first fire was exchanged 
Asdthout effect. While preparing for the second, Mr. Randolph promised to hit 
him the next time, which he did, dangerously wounding him in the hip, rather 
in the posterior or fleshy portion ; and he carried the hall in him to the day of 
2* 



10 BIOGRAPHYOF 

his death. They were reconciled on the spot, and Mr. Randolph alwaj^s spoke of 
him in the highest terms of admiration, as well of his high sense of honor as 
his superior talents. 

As far as I am able to gather from circumstances he must have left college 
about the year 1793, after having attended a course of lectures on law delivered 
by his father-in-law. With a view to complete his studies for that profession, 
he went to Philadelphia, and placed himself in the office of his uncle, Edmund 
Randolph, who was then Attorney General ; but on Mr. Jefferson's retirement 
soon after, he was raised to the office of Secretary of State, in 1794. A new school 
was thus opened to the student, and one which much better suited his disposi- 
tion than the one he had first chosen — that of politics and the general law of 
nations, growing out of our commercial and political relations vdth the two 
belhgerents, France and England. The new Secretaiy of State soon found him- 
self involved in an animated discussion with the French Minister, Joseph Fau- 
chet. It arose principally about the construction of the 17th article of the treaty 
of amity and commerce with France, in relation to the ships of war and priva- 
teers of France, upon entering the waters of the Umted States. The 17th arti- 
cle, above alluded to, of the treaty, of 1778,'stipulates, 1st, That the ships of war 
and privateers of France may freely carry the ships and goods taken from their 
enemies, into the ports of the United States, without being obliged to pay any 
fees. 2d, That such prizes are not to be arrested or seized, when they enter 
the ports of the United States. 3d, That the officers of the United States shall 
not make any examination concerning the lawfulness of their prizes. The 5th 
article, on the contrary, interdicts shelter and refuge in the ports of the United 
States to such vessels of war of the enemies of France as shall have made prize 
of her subjects or property. Mr. Fauchet complained in a letter to Mr. Secre- 
tary Randolph dated 17th September, 1794, and others that followed, that each 
of these stipulations had been violated on the part of the government, through 
her citizens, or British residents, and proceeds to enumerate the several instan- 
ces in which they occurred. Mr. Randolph's answers were ably written, 
intended to vindicate our government from the charges, and to prove its disposi- 
tion to preseiTe the relations of amity and peace existing between the two 
powers. This correspondence passed through the hands or met the eye of Mr. 
Randolph , as he was at the office and a member of the family of his uncle at 
the time. He thus had it in his power to store his mind with useful knowledge 
as a politician, to acquire information as regards our foreign policy, to become 
acquainted with the treaties existing between us and the principal European 
powers, in fine, to prepare himself for that high sphere in the councils of the 
nation in which he was destined to move. He there had the rare opportunity 
of gaining the acquaintance and the friendship of the Father of his countiy, at 
whose table his uncle and himself were favored guests, and agreeable additions 
to Gen. Washington's levees. At his time of hfe and in his situation and cir- 
cumstances, it is natural to suppose that he sometimes entered into some of the 
various scenes of amusement and dissipation which the city offered. He was 
never chargeable, however, during his three years' residence there, with the 



JOHNRANDOLPH. 11 

guilt of any excesses, or of acquiring any vicious propensity or habit. An 
anecdote is told of him, however, which proves him not entirely exempt from 
some of the fashionable follies of the time, a passion for cards. On one occa- 
sion he made one of a party at a club, where the game of loo was introduced, 
and the stake played for was considerable, the limit being not less than one 
or two hundred dollars. Among the company was a rough-looking man, a sea- 
captain. The stake had gradually accumulated to sixty dollars. Mr. Randolph 
stood his hand ; he was followed by the captain, and judging from his appear- 
ance that his purse was not commensurate with his boldness, Mr. Randolph 
demanded of him whether he had money enough to make good the board, if he 
lost, as the rules of the club required. After expressing some scruples as to 
his authority for propounding the question, the captjiin pulled out an old rusty 
pocket-book, upon opening which a large roll of bank notes was exhibited, to 
the no little envy of the spectators. The hands were then played and neither 
won. They continued to play, the stake increasing all the time until it arose 
to eighty dollars. After the next deal the captain and Mr. Randolph again 
became competitors for it. Before playing his hand, the captain arose, and 
striking his fist upon the table, demanded of Mr. Randolph whether he was 
able to make good the stake if he were looed .' Mr. Randolph was evidently 
abashed, and had to admit that he might not have as much about him, but 
would make it a point of honor to obtain it, as soon after the game was played, 
should he be the loser, as he could go to his room and get it. The captain 
declared that would not do, and insisted that he should not be allowed to play 
his hand, unless the amount required were instantly produced. Mr. Randolph 
demurred, but upon an appeal being made to the umpires, it was decided against 
him. He threw dovnr his cards and quitted the room with no very pleasant 
feelings. Whether this occurrence gave him a disgust to gaming, or his natural 
good sense presented the vice to him in its proper colors, he abandoned the 
amusement from that day. He hated the very sight of a gambler, or to apply 
his more opprobrious term, blackleg, which he classed lower than robbers and 
thieves, that studied nothing else — it was their sole vocation — to wrest by fraud, 
the hard earnings of the honest, industrious and unsuspecting class. His 
maxim was if he were so indiscreet as to play with such a person and lost his 
money, to pay it, but to mark the man and shun him ever afterwards. 

Edmimd Randolph retired from the office of Secretary of State, in September, 
1795, and was succeeded by Timothy Pickering. Though we have no certain 
data to show positively that Mr. Randolph returned home inmiediately afterwards, 
we have reason to believe that he entered into the possession of his patrimonial 
estate early in the spring of 1796. Its dilapidated state, the usual fate of an 
orphan's estate at the end of its lease, required his personal care and attention 
to restore it to its pristine order and fertihty. He found it also encumbered 
with a considerable debt, which pressed so urgently upon him, that he felt no 
little embarrassment in his efiorts to meet it. Upon applying to John Wickham, 
his friend, a celebrated counsellor and advocate at Richmond, his fears were 
dispelled, and Mr. Wickham immediately granted hira the required loan of a 



12 BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN RANDOLPH. 

thousand dollars. He ever after acknowledged the favor in terms of the Virarm- 
est gratitude. By a judicious application of this sum, he relieved himself of the 
more pressing claims against him, and by a vrise economy, unwearied applica- 
tion, by adopting the new and improved mode of culture introduced and enforced 
by his neighbor, John Taylor of Carohne, he soon produced an advantageous 
change in the appearance of Roanoke, made heavy and productive crops, prin- 
cipally of tobacco, and at the end of two years was enabled to repay Mr. 
Wickham with interest, and to discharge every other claim against him. 

Although he was educated for the bar, he never engaged in its practice. It 
neither suited his disposition nor his taste, which turned more upon pohtics. 
This was a field which he entered fearlessly, and although the Sedition Law 
was in force, he hesitated not to speak of the acts of the administration with 
unmitigated severity. He embraced the popular, or RepubUcan side of the two 
great parties that divided the Union, and at once became conspicuous among the 
leading men of his district. His discussions on pubhc occasions were sure to 
collect crowds around him, whom he highly gratified by the originahty of his 
ideas, the freedom of his language, and the animation and ability with which he 
maintained his sentiments. By these means, and going through the different 
counties, and by liis pleasing and gentlemanly deportment, and his mteresting 
youthful appearance, he won a great accession of popularity. He stood too 
high above all candidates for popular favor to admit of room for choice, and 
accordingly upon the vacancy which occurred in his district, by the resignation 
of the Representative in April, 1799, he was elected almost by acclamation. He 
attended the session of Congress at Philadelphia the December following, and on 
appearing at the Speaker's table, when the roll was called, to take the oath of office, 
the Speaker, Mr. Sedgwick, surprised at his youthful appearance, asked him if he 
was old enough to be eligible. " Ask my constituents," replied Mr. Randolph, 
which was all the satisfaction the Speaker got or required. Mr. Randolph was 
not of the constitutional age of twenty-five years when he was elected, but he 
became so by the time he took the oath of a member, and Congress had applied 
the most liberal construction of the qualification clause, by hmiting it to the 
time of the administration of the oath, and not to the date of the election. He 
had not been long in his seat before the flash and fiery outbreak of his mind 
ensued. 



4«' 



CHAPTER II. 
MR. Randolph's first speech — difficulty with the president. 

On the 1 0th of January, 1800, Mr. Randolph made his maiden speech on Mr. 
Nicholas's resolution for reducing the army. In the course of his remarks, he ap- 
phed the term " raggamuffins " to the soldiery in general. On the following night, 
while he was seated in a front row of a box at the Chestnut street theatre, in 
company with some friends, members of the House, two officers of the arniy or 
navy, in an adjoining box, just before the curtain rose, began to vociferate to the 
orchestra, " Play up, you d — d raggamuffins," and repeated it at intervals during 
the performance. The friends of Mr. Randolph, apprehending some mischief 
or personal insult, sat closely on each side of him, and put him on his guard. 
At the conclusion of the piece as they arose to depart, Mr. R. felt some one 
seize him by the hair of the head from behind and give him a violent pull, that 
nearly brought him down on his seat. Turning suddenly around, he found the 
two officers standing close by, when he asked, " Which of these two d — d ras- 
cals did that .' " No answer was returned, and his friends, taking him between 
them, retired to their respective lodgings without further molestation. The next 
day Mr. Randolph wrote a letter to the President, in which he complained of 
this treatment by two officers of the army or navy (he did not laiow which), 
with evident intention to provoke him to a course of conduct which might, in 
some sort, justify the hostile designs they entertained towards him, from the exe- 
cution of which they were only deterred by the presence of several of his friends. 
He stated that he was acquainted with the name of one of these young men, 
who appeared to have so false an estimate of true dignity of character, who 
seemed to have mistaken brutality for .spirit, and an armed combination against 
the person of an individual for an indication of courage. He was called Mc- 
Knight, rank imknown. Mr. Christie, a member of the House, appeared to 
know him ; and that gentleman, with Capt. Campbell Smith, who, as he under- 
stood, endeavored to deter those rash young men from their scheme, and whose 
conduct would evince, if, indeed, there were any need of proof, that the charac- 
ter of the man and the citizen is not incompatible with the soldier, can give an 
account of the various instances of misconduct Avhich were exhibited by the parties. 

" Having stated the fact, it would be derogatory to your character (says 
Mr, R.), for me to point out the remedy. So far as they relate to this applica- 



14 EIOGBAPHYOF 

tion addressed to you in a public capacity, they can only be supposed by you to 
be of a public nature. It is enough for me to state, that the independence of the 
Legislature has been attacked, and the majesty of the people, of which you are 
the principal representative, insulted, and your authorit}' contemned. In their 
name, I demand that a provision commensurate with the evil be made, and 
which will be calculated to deter others from any future attempt to introduce the 
reign of terror into our country. In addressing you in this plain language of 
man, I give you, sir, the best proof I can afford of the estimation in which I 
hold your office and your understanding, and I assure you with truth , that I am 
with respect, your fellow-citizen, JOHN RANDOLPH, 

" Chamber H. Representatives, 11th Jan., 24th Independence. 
" To THE President of the U. States." 

On the 14th, three days afterwards, Mr. Adams sent a message to the House, 
of the following tenor : — 

" Gentlemen of the House of Representatives — As the enclosed letter 
from a member of your body, received by me on the night of Saturday, the 11th 
instant, relates to the privileges of the House, which in my opinion ought to be 
inquired into by the House itself, if anywhere, I have thought proper to submit 
the whole letter and its tendencies to your consideration, without any other 
comments on its matter and style. But as no gross impropriety of conduct 
on the part of officers holding commissions in the army or navy of the United 
States, ought to pass wnthout due animadversions, I have directed the Secretary 
of War and the Secretary of the Navy to investigate the conduct complained of, 
and report to me without delay such a statement of facts as will enable me to 
decide on the course which duty and justice shall appear to prescribe. 

" JOHN ADAMS. 

" U. States, January 14, 1800." 

The message, on motion, though opposed by Mr. Randolph, was refeiTed to 
a select committee, of which Chauncey Goodrich of Connecticut was chair- 
man. On the 20th of the month the committee made their report, -with the 
accompanying evidence. They gave the names of the offenders as Capt. James 
McKnight and Michael Reynold, of the marines. As to the style of Mr. Ran- 
dolph's letter, they forbore to make any other remarks, than to express their 
regret that he had conceived himself justified in deviating from the form of deco- 
rum customary in official communications to the President, and which they con- 
sider so justly due to his office and character, and concluded that there did not ap- 
pear, on the examination of testimony, sufficient reason for the interference of the 
House, on the ground of a breach of privilege. They submitted two resolutions : 
1st, That this House entertains a respectful sense of the regard which the Pre- 
sident has shown to its rights and privileges, in his message of the 14th instant. 
2d, That in respect to the charges made by John Randolph, a member of this 
House, that sufficient cause does not appear for the interference of this House, 
on the grounds of a breach of privilege. On the 30th, the resolutions were 
passed, after a spirited and feeling defence by Mr. Randolph. 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 15 

In 1800, the Government was moved to Washington City. Preparations 
were making on both sides for the approaching campaign. The great battle 
was fought in the fall of 1800, and the dominant party was entirely defeated. 
A great political revolution occurred. On the 4th of March, 1801, John Adams 
yielded the sceptre of executive power into the hands of his successful rival, 
Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Randolph had contributed his share most freely in bringing 
about this change of popular sentiment, particularly in his own State. Upon 
the meeting of the House on the December following, he expressed the most 
lively felicitations at witnessing so thorough a change in the councils of the 
nation. He saw himself surrounded, for the fiist time, by a large majority of 
representatives of congenial feelings, and the new cabinet strongly fortified in 
both branches of the Legislature. At the session of December following Na- 
thaniel Macon was elected Speaker, by a majority of 56 to 29, and on organiz- 
ing the several committees, they were made to partake of the poHtical complexion 
of the triumphant principles. Mr. Randolph was placed at the head of the 
Committee of Ways and Means, the most considerable and dignified post in the 
oift of the chair. When we view the prominent men of the party then present, 
as Mr. Giles, Mr. Newton, Mr. Nicholas, Mr. Nicholson and others, it was no 
small compliment to the high standing to which he had risen in so short a time. 
The work of destruction now commenced, and in that business Mr. Randolph 
was said to be more fitted and expert, than the opposite one of building up. 
The majority thought that they could not better di.scharge their duty and re- 
commend themselves to their constituents, than by undoing what had been done 
by their predecessors, and which had been so great a cause for their dismissal 
from power. Among thue first positions attacked, was the new judiciary law- 
by which a batch of sixteen judges had been created as the last expiring throe 
of the late executive. In accordance with the recommendation of the President, 
Mr. Breckenridge, on the 16th of January, moved in the Senate, that the act of 
the last session, creating sixteen new judges, should be repealed. The re.solu- 
tion met with strong opposition, and caused a debate that lasted, at intervals, till 
the end of the session. In order to obtain an expression of the opinions of 
the house on the same subject, without waiting for the tardy discussion of the 
Senate, Mr. Randolph introduced a proposition, though somewhat different in 
form, " that a committee be appointed to inqiiire whether any, and what altera- 
tions can be made in the judiciary department of the United States, and to pro- 
vide for securing the impartial selection of juries in the Courts of the United 
States," to which was appended a resolution to inquire what reductions could 
be made in the civil government of the United States. They were referred to a 
select conamittee of which he was appointed Chairman. On the 4th of February, 
he reported a bill to repeal the laws of the last session with respect to the 
judiciary, and after undergoing considerable discussion in committee of the 
whole, Avas reported to _^the House and passed on the 3d of March, 1802, by a 
vote of 59 to 32. Although we would suppose he had enough to do, as chair- 
man of the committee of ways and means, yet he was almost constantly carv- 
ing out new work, and appeared to be indefatigable in his legislative duties. 



16 BIOGRAPHYOF 

On the 20th of January, he introduced a resolution, directing the Secretary of 
the Treasury to lay before the House a list of the exports to the Mediterranean, 
distinguishing those of the growth of the United States. He also took part in 
the debate on the apportionment under the census of 1800, but as we have 
given his views on that question at a later period, it will be unnecessary to 
present them here. He also introduced, on the 9th of June, a resolution to re- 
duce the military estabhshment. Having been appointed Chairman of a 
select committee to see what could be done to expedite the public printing, he 
reported a resolution to appoint a public printer, and on that foundation and to 
his exertions rest the credit of this sage and economical improvement in the 
printing business of the House. Although he was among the foremost in clear- 
ing away the impediments which obstructed the progress of the new majority, 
in rescinding the prominent measures of the late administration, yet, though a 
great deal was done, comparatively little was said. Most of the speaking came 
from the side of the opposition. The majority adopted the maxim to act, and 
they watched in almost perfect silence the slow but sure progress of their mea- 
sures of reform. From this cause, this Congress received the name of the dumb 
legislature, and was compared by the opponents to the legislative council of 
France, the embryo of the fertile invention of Seyes, which was restricted to the 
introduction of laws, without entering into the discussion of their object or 
policy. 

At the session of 1803, the most important subject that engaged the attention 
of the House, was the na^dgation of the Mississippi. In the October preceding, 
the Governor of New Orieans, Don IMorales, had issued a proclamation exclud- 
ing that port as a depot for our commerce, a favor v^-e had hitherto enjoyed 
under our treaty \vith Spain. On the 5th of January, 1803, Mr. Griswold offered a 
resolution, calling on the President for information relating to the cession of Louisi- 
ana by Spain and France, alluded to by the President in a private message. This 
message, with some motion connected with it, had, on motion of Mr. Randolph, 
been referred to a committee, and had been under consideration of the House with 
closed doors. Mr. Randolph moved to refer the resolution of Mr. Griswold 
to a committee of the whole on the state of the Union : which motion, after 
some opposition, was agreed to, ayes 49 to 39 noes. The House then went 
into committee of the whole, and Mr. Randolph observed, that he held in his 
hand certain resolutions connected with the message, relative to the late proceed- 
ings at New Orleans ; the discussion of which had been ordered to be cai-ried on 
vv'ith closed doors. He asked the decision of the question, whether, previously 
to offering his resolutions, the doors ought not to be closed. Much variety of 
opinion was expressed, the opposition preferring the adoption of Mr. Griswold's 
resolution for information, and the discussion with open doors. Mr. Randolph 
observed, that he had already more than once stated his objections to discuss 
this subject in public. He had observations which he had already said must 
be made in secret. " The gentleman from Connecticut says, he is willing the 
resolution should l)e fully discussed, and therefore concludes that it must not be 
referred to a secret committee, as he is pleased to term it : where alone, as we 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 17 

contend, and have infonned him, the discussion can take place. Sir, this may be 
logic, but it is new to me. A message from the President relative to New 
Orleans has been referred to a certain committee, and we propose to refer the 
resolution to the same committee. Gentlemen exclaim that tlxis is denying them 
information. Does it follow of necessity, that we deny the information because 
we choose to consider the subject with closed doors ? Cannot the resolution he 
as fully discussed in private as in public ? Do all the reasoning faculties of the 
House cease to exist the moment the doors are closed ? Cannot the eloquence 
of the gentleman be exerted unless when addressed to the ladies who do us 
the honor of attending in this hall ?" He would not be drawn into a discussion 
of the merits of the resolution at this time. He had arguments, he said, which 
should be known at a proper time. Mr. Griswold's motion was negatived, and 
Mr. Randolph's was agreed too. Mr. Monroe was appointed minister to France, 
on the 1 5th of January, to negotiate with that power for the purchase of Louisi- 
ana. He succeeded in the object of his mission, and that province was ceded 
to us for the consideration of 20 millions of dollars, and placed in our possession 
the December following. On the 4th of February, on the passage of a bill to 
prevent the importation of certain persons whose admission is prohibited by 
several States, Mr. Randolph advocated its passage, although coming from a 
slave-holding State, and wished to make the bill efficacious in suppressing the 
slave-trade, by authorizing the officers of the customs to assist in preventing the 
evil. Such was Mr. Randolph's zeal in the public service, that he was induced 
to make a motion, the like of which had seldom or never been made before or 
since, that the House, on adjourning, should agree to meet the next day, which 
he said he knew to be Sunday, but the business of the House had been so 
pressing as to justify it. He was opposed, of course, by some member from the 
land of steady habits, Mr. Griswold, which induced Mr. Randolph to withdraw 
his motion. Not much business of importance was transacted by the House 
during the remainder of the session, and Mr. Randolph's time was mostly occu- 
pied by the vigilance which he had to use as Chairman of the committee of 
ways and means, in tilling the several blanks of the various appropriation bills 
he reported, and in maldng the necessary explanations on all the points on 
which objections were raised from any quarter of the House. Li this arduous 
task he appeared to be always ready, and possessed a fund of useful informa- 
tion on which he frequently had to draw, on the fiscal concerns of the nation. 

IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGE CHASE. 

Mr. Randolph had ascended to his culminating point in the poUtical firma- 
ment. Were we to select any portion of his legislative career as the most bril- 
liant, one in which his faculties were in their fullest vigor, and his influence 
the most powerful, we should refer to the succeeding sessions of 1804-5. 
Among the numerous questions which he originated, or in which he took an 
active part, we shall introduce three or four in support of the opinion which we 
have just expressed. 

3 



18 BIOGRAPHIOF 

On Thursday, the 5th of January, 1804, he offered the following resolution 
as the foimdation for the impeachment of Judge Chase : " Kesolved, That a com- 
mittee be appointed to inquire into the official conduct of Samuel Chase, one of 
|he associate justices of the Supreme court of the United States, and report their 
opinion whether the said Samuel Chase hath so acted in liis judicial capacity as 
to require the interposition of the constitutional power of this house." Although 
the resolution purported to be merely one of inquiry, it encouirtered considerable 
opposition. He resohitely supported it against all attacks, and it was not until 
the 20th of February following, that it was carried, by a vote of 82 to 41. The 
principal ground of accusation against the Judge was, that in the trial of John 
Fries for high treason, in levying war against the United States during the 
Whisky insurrection in the western part of Pennsylvania, before the circuit 
court held at Philadelphia in 1779, he had prejudged the question by handing 
from the bench, to the counsel of the prisoner, a written opinion, in which they 
were enjoined against discussing the law of treason, as applicable to the particu- 
lar case. This decision was so repugnant to the feelings of the counsel, and 
such an imwarrantable abridgment of their rights, that they refused to speak in 
Fries' defence and withdrew from the bar. Fries was found guilty by the jury 
and sentenced to be hanged by the Judge, but immediately pardoned by Presi- 
dent Adams. There were seven managers elected by the House, and Mr. Ran- 
dolph the chairman or principal one. Articles of impeachment were reported 
against Judge Chase, amounting to seven, and relating to other cases of miscon- 
duct, on the trial of Thomas Cooper and James Kallender for sedition or libel 
against the President. For want of time or the difficulties which necessarily at- 
tended this novel and solenur trial, it was continued \mtil the succeeding session. 
On the 30th of November, 1805, the same articles of impeachment were again 
reported, and Mr. Randolph appeared at the bar of the Senate, to inform that 
body, in the name of the House, that he impeached Samuel Chase of high crimes 
and misdemeanors. The proceedings were necessarily tedious, and owing to the 
number of witnesses examined on both sides, the many arguments on the part 
of the managers and the counsel of the accused, we are compelled to omit even 
a condensed view of them. Mr. Randolph opened the case on the part of the 
House, on the 14th of February, 1805, in a speech occupying one hour and a 
half. Though it was not considered the best of his forensic efforts and is 
too long to give entire, yet the peroration may well repay the reader for the 
perusal. 

" The respondent, in his answer, has appealed to heaven for the rectitude of 
his intentions. When such an appeal is made I feel for the respondent : but I 
feel great'reUef that the blood of John Fries, an innocent, oppressed man, will not 
rise in judgment against him. But for the timely extension of that provision of 
the constitution which gives the President the power of granting pardon, the 
cries of the widow and the teai-s of the orphan would have implored for justice 
against him at the bar of that tribunal, when at the last day all hearts are laid 
open, he would have been obliged to accuse himself and to attest that in a man- 
ner novel and unprecedented, he had procured the conviction of a poor, illiter- 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 1ft 

ate German, and sent him without remorse into eternity. But the President has 
saved the respondent from answering for blood by granting pardon to Fries, and 
by that act has obliterated the remembrance of a number of errors from my mind. 
For mercy, like charity, covers a multitude of sins, and the pure ermine of just- 
ice was not suffered to be dyed in the blood of John Fries." 

By the Constitution, two-thirds of tlie Senators present being required to 
concur in sustaining an impeachment, and as that number were not found on 
any single article, though on some there was a bare majority. Judge Chase was 
acquitted. It may be as well to add, that John Fries afterwards opened a store 
in Market street, Philadelphia, for the sale of tin ware, and where, being con- 
sidered by many as a persecuted man, he received a " salve for his wounds" in 
the rapid sale of his goods, and acquired independence. 

MR. Randolph's speech on the yazoo question. 

In order to understand the occasion of Mr. Randolph's speech on the Yazoo 
claim, we must enter somewhat into the particulars. As his resolutions go into 
a detail comprehending a sufficiency of the history of the transaction to make 
us acquainted with the main facts of the case, we will introduce them in the 
first place. 

" Resolved, That the legislature of Georgia were at no time invested with the 
power of alienating the right of sale possessed by the people of that State to 
the vacant territory lying \\ ithin the Limits of the same : that when the govern- 
ors of any people shall have betrayed the confidence reposed in them and shall 
have exercised the authority with which they have been clothed for the general 
welfare, to promote their own private ends, with the basest motives and to the 
public detriment, it is the undoubted right of the people so deceived, to resiune 
the rights thus attempted to be bartered, and to abrogate the act thus endeavoring 
to betray them. That it is in e\'idence before this house that the act of the Le- 
gislature of Georgia, passed on the 7th day of Januaiy, 1795, entitled an act 
ajjpropriating a part of the unlocated territory of the State, for the purpose of 
paying the State troops and other purposes, was passed by persons under the 
influence of gross and palpable corruption, practised by the grantees of the lands 
attempted to be alienated by the aforesaid act, tending to enrich and aggrandize 
to a degree almost incalculable, a few individuals, to the public injury. That 
by an act passed the 13th of February, 1796, declaring the same null and void 
and the grants made under it, the said act should be expunged from the 
journals and publicly burned, which was accordingly done, provision being 
made for restoring the pretended purchase money to the grantees, the greater 
part of which purchase money has been by them withdrawn from tlie treasury 
of Georgia. 

" Resolved, That no part of the five millions of acres reserved for satisf jang 
and quieting claims to lands ceded by Georgia to the United States shall be 
appropriated to quiet any claims derived under any act or pretended act passed 
by the State of Georgia during the year 1795." 



20 BIOGRAPHYOF 

The resolutions were referred to a committee of the whole, to whom was 
referred a bill providing for the settlement of sundry claims to lands lying south 
of Tennessee, by a vote of 50 to 30. 

There was no decision on the resolutions during that session, which terminat- 
ed on the 4th of March. It was laid over, with the impeachment of Judge 
Chase, till the ensuirtg session. Jn the meantime the original grantees had 
sold out rights to northern purchasers, who instituted a company called th^ 
New England and Mississippi Land Company. They petitioned Congress to 
satisfy their claim by a fair purchase or commutation, and at the session of 
1805, the Committee of Claims reported in their favor, through Mr. Dana the 
chairman. 

On the 25th of January, they introduced the following resolution : — " That 
three Commissioners be appointed to receive propositions of compromise and 
settlement from the several companies or persons holding claims to lands within 
the present limits of the Mississippi Territory, in such manner as, in their opi- 
nion, shall conduce to the interest of the United States, Provided, such settle- 
ment shall not exceed the hmit prescribed by the convention with the State of 
Georgia." 

The resolution of Mr. Dana being inti'oduced with a few remarks, Mr. Ran- 
dolph arose : — " Perhaps," said he, "it may be supposed from the course which 
this business has taken, that the adversaries of the present measure indulge the 
expectation of being able to come forward at a future day — not to this House, 
for that hope is desperate, but to the public, with a more matured opposition 
than it is in their power now to make. But past experience has shown them 
that this is one of those subjects which pollution has sanctified, that the hallow- 
ed mysteries of corruption are not to be profaned by the eye of public curiosity. 
No, sir, the orgies of Yazoo speculation are not to be laid open to the vidgar 
gaze. None but the initiated are peraiitted to behold the monstrous sacrifice of 
Ae best interests of the nation on the altar of corruption. When this abomina- 
tion is to be practised, we go into conclave. Do we apply to the press, that 
potent engine, the dread of tyrants and of villains, but the shield of freedom and 
of worth .' No, sir, the press is gagged. On this subject we have a virtual sedi- 
tion law — not with a specious title, but irresistible in its operation, which goes 
directly to its object. This demon of speculation has wrested from the nation 
at one sweep, their best, their only defence, and has closed the avenue of inform- 
ation. But a day of retribution may yet come. If their rights are to be barter- 
ed away and their property squandered, the people must not, they shall not be 
kept in ignorance by whom it is done. We have often heard of party spirit, of 
caucuses, as they are termed, to settle legislative questions, but never have I 
seen that spirit so visible as at present. The out-door intrigue -is too palpable 
to be disguised. When it was proposed to abolish the judiciary system, reared 
in the last moments of an expiring administration, the detested offspring of a 
midnight hour ; when the question of repeal was before the House, it could not 
be taken until midnight, in the third or fourth week of the discussion. When 
the great and good man who now fills, and who (whatever may be the wishes 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 21 

of our opponents) I hope and trust will long fill the Executive chair, not less 
to his own honor than to the happiness of his fellow-citizens — when he recom- 
mended the repeal of the internal taxes, delay succeeded delay, till patience itself 
was worn thread-bare. But now, when public plunder is the order of the day, 
how are we treated .-' Driven into a committee of the whole, and out again in 
a breath by an inflexible majority, exulting in their strength, a decision must be 
had immediately. The advocates for the proposed measure feel that it will not 
bear scrutiny. Hence this precipitancy. They wince from the touch of examin- 
ation, and are willing to hurry throiigh a painful and disgraceful discussion. As 
if animated by one spirit, they perfonn all their evolutions with the most exact 
discipline, and march in firm phalanx directly up to their object. Is it that men 
combined together to effect some evil purpose, acting on previous pledge to each 
other, are ever more in unison than those who, seeking only to discover truth, 
obey the impulse of that conscience which God has placed in their bosom .' 
Such men will not stand compromitted. They will not stifle the suggestions of 
their owm minds, and sacrifice their private opinions to the attainment of some 
nefarious object. The memorialists plead ignorance of that fraud by which the 
act from which their present title was derived was passed. As it has been a 
pretext for exciting the compassion of the legislature, I vnsh to examine the 
ground upon which this allegation rests. When the act of stupendous villany 
was passed in 1795, attempting under the form and semblance of law, to rob 
unborn millions of their birthright and inheritance, and to convey to a band of 
unprincipled and flagitious men, a territory more extensive, more fertile than 
any State in the Union, it caused a sensation scarcely less violent than that 
caused by the passage of the Stamp Act, or the shutting up of the port of Bos- 
ton : with this diflerence, that when the port bill of Boston passed, her southern 
brethren did not take advantage of the foiTOs of law, by which a corrupt legisla- 
ture attempted to defraud her of the bounties of nature ; they did not speculate 
on the wrongs of their abused and insulted countrymen. * * * * Sanction 
this claim, derived from the act of 1795, and what, in effect, do you declare ? 
You record a solemn acknowledgment that Congress have unfairly and dishon- 
estly obtained from Georgia a grant of land to which that State had no title, hav- 
ing previously sold it to others for a valuable consideration, of which transaction 
Congress was at the time fully apprised. The agents of this Mississippi Land 
Company set out with an attempt to prove that they are entitled to the whole fifty 
millions of acres of land, under the act of 1795, and thus they make their plea 
to be admitted to a proportional share of five. If they really beheved what they 
say, would they be willing to commute a good legal or equitable claim for one- 
tenth of its value ? * * * We are told that we stand pledged, and that an appropria- 
tion for British grants, not regranted by Spain especially, was made for the espe- 
cial benefit of a particular class of claimants, branded too by the deepest odium, 
who dare talk to us of the pubhc faith, and appeal to the national honor ! * * * * 
The right of the State of Georgia to sell is denied by your own statute book. 
So far from being able to transfer to others, the right to extinguish the Indian 
title to land, she has not been able to exercise it for her own benefit. It is only 
3* 



22 BIOGRAPHTOF 

through the agency of the United States that she can obtain the extinguishment of 
the Indian title to the sale of land within her hmits, much less could she delegate 
it to a few Yazoo men. * * * * The present case presents a monstrous anomaly, 
to which the ordinary and narrow maxims of mimicipal jurisprudence cannot be 
appUed. It is from great first principles, to which the patriots of Georgia so 
gloriously appealed, that Ave must look for aid in such extremity. Extreme cases 
like this call for extreme remedies. They bid defiance to palliatives, and it is only 
by the knife, or the actual cautery, that you can expect relief. There is no cure 
short of extirpation. Attornies and 'Judges do not decide the fate of empires. 
* * * * The Government of the United States, on a former occasion, did not, 
indeed, act in this firm and decided manner. But those were hard, unconstitu- 
tional times, that never ought to be drawn into precedent. The first year I had 
the honor of a seat in this House, an act was passed somewhat of a similar na- 
ture to the one now proposed. I allude to the case of the Connecticut Reserve, 
by which the nation was swindled out of three or four millions of acres, which, 
like other bad titles, had fallen into the hands of innocent purchasers. When I 
advert to the applicants by whom we were then beset, I find among them one of 
the persons who style themselves the Agents of the New England INIississippi 
Land Company, who seems to have an unfortunate knack of buying bad titles. 
His gigantic grasp embraces with one hand the shores of Lake Erie, and with 
the other stretches to the Bay of Mobile. Millions of acres are easily digested 
by such stomachs. Goaded by avarice, they buj^ only to sell, and sell only to 
buy. The retail trade of fraud and imposture yields too small and slow a profit 
to gratify their cupidity. They buy and sell corruption in the gross, and a few 
millions of acres, more or less, is hardly felt in the accoimt. The deeper the 
play, the greater their zest for the game, and the stake which is set upon the 
throAV is nothing less than the patrimony of the people. Mr. Speaker, when I 
see the agency which is employed on this occasion, I must own that it fills me 
with apprehension and alarm. The same agent is at the head of an Executive 
Department of our Government, and inferior to none in the influence attached to 
it. * * * * This officer presents himself at your bar, at once a party and an advo- 
cate. Sir, when I see such a tremendous influence brought to bear upon us, I 
do confess it strikes me with consternation and despair. Are the heads of Ex- 
ecutive Departments, Avith the uifluence and patronage attached to them, to 
extort from us now, Avhat we refused at the last session of Congress ? * * * * 
T will pin myself upon this text, and preach upon it as long as I have life. If 
no other reason could be adduced, but for a regard for our oavu fame, if it were 
only to rescue ourselves from this foul imputation, this Aveak and dishonorable 
compromise ought to receive a prompt and decisive rejection. Is the voice of 
patriotism lulled to rest, that we no longer hear the cry against an overbearing ma- 
jority ! determined to put down the constitution, and deaf to every proposition of 
compromise ! Such AA^ere the dire forebodings to which Ave have been compel- 
led heretofore to listen. But if the enmity of such men be fonnidable, their 
friendship is deadly destruction, their touch deadly pollution ! What is the spi- 
rit against Avhich we now struggle ? which we have vainly endeavored to stifle .' 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 23 

A monster generated by fraud, nursed in corniption, that in grim silence awaits 
its prey. It is the spirit of Federalism." * * * * 

Tlie speech maintains the same lofty strain of indignant eloquence, and vehe- 
ment invective throughout, and is one of the finest specimens of oratory ever 
exhibited on the floor of Congress. It possesses a due proportion of argument, 
of close logical reasoning, animated with a glow of honest and patriotic senti- 
ment, enforced by the powerful energies of his fervid imagination. To the 
correspondent of one of the daily papers who attempts to fi5t on Mr. Randolph 
the charge of insanity previous to this period, I would confidently refer to this 
speech. If the judges of the Areopagus at Athens acquitted Sophocles of a 
charge of madness, merely upon his production of the ^dipus Colonoeus, Mr. 
Randolph's sanity could not rest on safer grounds than by a reference of his 
speech to a similar tribunal. Such a rare piece of excellence ought to find a 
place in every schoolboy's monitor that pretends to give a judicious selection 
from the stores of American oratory, and the young aspirant to oratorical fame 
could not have a better lesson put in his hands. 

Mr. Randolph also took a conspicuous part in the debate on the resolu- 
tion for requesting the President to present a sword to General Eaton in the 
name of Congress, for his services in defeating the Tripolilan army at the 
capture of Derne. The select committee to whom the resolution was referred, 
recommended a gold medal instead of a sword. Mr. Joseph Ciay had spoken, 
and gave his reasons for preferring a sword, inasmuch as during the whole 
revolutionary war. Congress had conferred only three medals, and he did not 
think General Eaton was entitled to more credit for his march through the 
desert of Lydia and the capture of Derne, than was Captain Decatur for the 
burning of the Philadelphia frigate, and the captiue of a junk boat in the har- 
bor of Tripoli. Mr. Randolph, in his first speech, coincided in opinion with 
Mr. Clay, that rewards should be proportioned to the exertions of those claim- 
ing them, as well as to the dignity and importance of the achievement which 
drew them forth. He believed that General Eaton would set a greater value 
upon any testimony, however small, of the unanimous approbation of Congress, 
than on the highest token of applause which a bare majority could give him. 
For this reason, he regretted that the mover of the resolution had changed a 
course in which all seemed disposed to follow him, for one which many were 
Ukely to disapprove. It has been stated, said he, that but three or four medals 
had been struck during the re v olutionary war. One, he believed, for Saratoga — 
another for the capitulation of Yorktown — a third upon that occasion, yet more 
august, when the commander-in-chief of our armies came to resign into the 
hands of the civil authorities, that mihtary power with which he had been 
entrusted for the salvation of his country. He had always understood that 
medals had been stnick, not so much in compliment to an individual, as to 
commemorate some great national event — -of what, sir .' a skirmish between some 
of our countr)Tnen, with a handful of undisciplined and half-armed barbarians ? 
As this question is more one of taste and feeling than of argument, he would 



24 BIOGRAPHYOF 

not trouble the committee further upon it than to remark, that there is a true and 
a false sublime in politics as well as in poetry, and that by attempting to soar 
too high, we are in danger of plunging into batiios." In replying in a second 
speech to the members who preceded him, Messrs Clay, Jackson, Bidwell, and 
Vamum, he said, he offered a few words in explanation, apprehending he had 
been misunderstood by the gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. Vamum. It 
was far from his intention to say that rewards should be proportioned according 
to rank. With that gentleman, he would be ready to acknowledge merit in a 
private sentinel, as in a field marshal. It was to the dignity of the action, its 
importance and value to the community, that he should look, not to the com- 
mission of him who performed it. Acts of heroism should never pass un- 
heeded, but every day did not produce a Codes or a Mutius. It was to pre- 
serve some proportion between the reward and the action, and value of the 
service, that he opposed this resolution in its present shape. He wished the 
House to be more frugal of the treasure of pubhc applause ; it was more precious 
than that which all seemed ready enough to guard. In such cases, it was 
always safest to err on the side of economy. Already it seemed that a sword, 
presented in the name of the nation, was too cheap a recompense for ordinary 
professional service. Where was this to end .' The utmost penury of appro- 
bation would not so injure the tone of public sentiment as this lavish prodi- 
gality. By being too niggard of praise, enterprise might be repressed in many 
instances, and merit stifled in the germ : but too great a profusion of honors 
would almost convert them into a disgrace, and beget an overweening vanity 
fatal to real greatness. Every man who obtained a trifling advantage over the 
enemy, would conceive himself a Marion or a Nelson. By setting up this 
transaction as the ne plus ultra of military achievements, as the pillars of Her- 
cules, beyond which none may pretend to pass, we do more to check the spirit of 
adventurous enterprise than if we took no notice of it. But say gentlemen, 
the person who is the object of this resolution acted in a two-fold capacity, 
civil and miUtary, and a sword is exclusively appropriated to reward military 
services. But without intending a ludicrous allusion, if the gentleman had acted 
in as many capacities as Lady Bountiful's butler, it would not alter his opinion 
as to the nature and value of the service. If, indeed, there was such a pohtical 
repulsion as the gentleman supposed, between a medal and a sword, Hke chemi- 
cal bodies having no affinity to each other, we should give both on this occa- 
sion, and add a vote of thanks as a basis on which they might imite.* * * The 
amendment was agreed to, by 58 votes to 53 ; by which a gold medal was 
awarded to General Eaton. 

SUDDEN CHANGE. 

We now come to a crisis, an epoch in Mr. Randolph's pohtical life, the most ex- 
traordinary of any that everoccurred in it, eventful as it was. To this period he had 
been considered the unrivalled leader of the Republican party in the House. He had 
been the confidential friend of Mr. Jefferson, from the commencement of his first 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 25 

Presidential term in 1801, to this fatal moment. By his station at the head of 
the Committee of Ways and Means, he was in almost daily communion with 
the church he had till then received as orthodox. He had but a short time be- 
fore, in the exuberance of his friendly feeling, honored the President with the most 
enviable of all titles, that of a great and good man at the head of the nation. He 
had conducted himself as the privileged, and almost exclusive champion of Ex- 
ecutive policy on the floor. But, in one unfortunate moment, these congenial 
feelings are blasted for ever, and as if, with the vengeful wrath of Othello, are 
blown aM'ay with a breath, and exchanged for the most deadly hatred. The 
ostensible occasion on which this most singular phasis took place, and of which 
no portent or sign in his political zodiac had given the least prognostication, was 
Mr. Gregg's resolution for the non-importation of goods from Great Britain and 
Ireland. On the 5th day of March, 1806, Mr. Randolph delivered a long and 
intemperate speech against it. In the course of it, he attacked IVIr. Madison's 
pamphlet, that had been lately published, as an answer to a pamphlet produced 
under the immediate eye of the Ministry, called " War in Disguise." 
" If I were the foe," said he, " as I must aver I am the friend of this nation, I 
would say, ' Oh that mine enemy would write a book.' " At the veiy onset, on 
the first page, there is a complete abandonment of the principle in dispute. The 
first principle taken is the broad principle of rmlimited freedom of trade between 
nations at peace, which the writer endeavors to extend to the trade between a 
neutral and a belligerent power, accompanied, however, by this acknowledgment : 
•' But inasmuch as the trade of a neutral with a belligerent power might in 
certain special cases affect the safety of its antagonist, usage, founded on this 
principle of necessity, has admitted of few exceptions to the general rule. The 
pamphlet, called the ' War in Disguise,' had maintained this very principle of 
necessity, and this is abandoned by this pamphleteer at the very threshold." Mr. 
Madison's pamphlet was called, " The Examination of the British Doctrine of 
Neutral Trade." For profound views, soimd and statesman-like opinions, and 
the deep and comprehensive knowledge of the laws of nations in their relations 
to neutral and belligerent powers, it was as invulnerable to Mr. Randolph's puny 
attacks, as were those of Chapman Johnson in the convention of Virginia, upon 
the position of Judge Marshall, which Mr. Randolph compared to an attack 
upon the rock of Gibraltar with a pocket pistol. Even the garbled extract (a most 
unfair and uncandid mode of judging a work) which he has selected, does not 
sustain liim in his charge of abandonment, where he says, " usage, foimded on 
the principle of necessity, has admitted a few exceptions to the general rule." 
But he does not admit that those exceptions are numerous and important enough 
to constitute a rule of themselves. Mr. Madison went on to show, that even 
those very exceptions did not apply to our trade with the enemies of Great Britain, 
with whom we had treaty stipulations and commercial intercourse. 

After allowing the usual time for the expression of general astonishment at 
this most unexpected change, the next inquiry arose as to the cause of it. A 
paper called " The Expositor," which professed to be in the secret, said that an 
embassy was sought for and refused. The Enquirer, of Richmond, had hitherto 



26 BIOGRAPHYOF 

applauded Mr. Randolph's course, and appeared still reluctant to give liim up to 
the opposition, and desired us to wait till everj^hing that had been done with 
closed doors shoiiid be published, before we decided upon the nature of his stric- 
tures on the Cabinet. On the 28th of March, Mr. Randolph declared war against 
Mr. Madison in fit terms, and promised that on the Monday following he would 
pubhcly denoimce him, and assigned as a reason, that Mr. Madison had told him 
at the beginning of the session, that France wanted money and must have it, 
and would not suffer Spain to treat with us till we gave it to her : upon which, 
he said, he turned upon his heel. In his overweening vanity and arrogance, Mr. 
Randolph flattered himself that, in his herculean strength, he could prostrate the 
Government at a single blow — that, on the first division, he could have them at 
his mercy and exact his ovni terms. That the majority which he had been accus- 
tomed to lead would follow him, hke a flock of sheep their bell-wether. But he 
calculated without his host. On the very first vote, on the very question on 
which he had hurled the lightning and thunderbolts of his denunciation at the de- 
voted heads of the Government, he was left in a woful minority. From the very 
rebound of his ireful arm, which he bared and raised aloft, to level to the dust the 
unconscious victims of his wrath, he fell from his angel height, like Lucifer, never 
to rise more. 

The painful duty now devolves upon me to give the true cause of his hostility 
to the Administration. We are informed that on Friday, the 21st of March, the 
House was sitting vdth closed doors. When the doors were opened and the 
injunction of secresy dissolved, the important proceedings which had been before 
them appeared in the form of a resolution : — 

" Resolved, That dollars be hereby appropriated towards purchasing the 

Spanish territory lying on the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, and eastward of 
the Mississippi, to be applied imder the direction of the President of the United 
States, who shall have authority to borrow the same, at a rate not to exceed six 
per cent., and that the account thereof be laid before Congress at its next session." 

The resolution was adopted by ayes 77, and noes 54 : and the engrossed bill 
for defra;ying the expenses of the purchase of the territory described in the resolu- 
tion passed by a vote of 76 to 54, Mr. Randolph being in the minority. 

About the 1 7th of January, Mr. JefTerson had communicated to Congress a 
secret message, no doubt containing the proposition for the purchase of the Flori- 
das, and requiring an appropriation of two millions to carry it into effect. From 
some cause or other, the secret was not entrusted to Mr. Randolph, Imt the honor 
of intrbducing and advocating the measure in the House, was confided to Barnabas 
Bidwell of New York. Him illm lachrymce. I am well assured from those that 
ought to know, and whose veracity was imimpeachable, and fortified hj the 
strong probabihty of the cause assigned, that to this source alone may be ascribed 
the anger of Mr. Randolph against his late friends, and his implacable jealousy 
against the favorite. He, of course, opposed the passage of this bill with all 
his might, and held up Mr. Bidwell to ridicule, as the weak and unworthy recipi- 
ent of Executive favor. But he had lost his influence — his opposition had no 
weight, and even his abihties were supposed to have fallen with it, and he appear- 
ed in some measure shorn of the beams of both mental and political power. 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 27 

In December, 1807, Mr. Randolph introduced a resolution calling on the Pre- 
sident for information respecting the proceedings in the western country, and the 
measures adopted to defeat any combination against the peace and safety of the 
United States. The object of the resolution was to expose to censure the con- 
duct of Judge Innes of Ohio, for concealing a conspiracy on the part of Spain, 
to separate the western States from the Union. It seems the subject was com- 
mimicated to him by one Dr. Powers, an authorized agent of the Governor of 
New Orleans, the Baron de Carondelet, as early as 1797, but as he alleged in 
his deposition of the 1st of December, 1806, he had not divulged the project be- 
cause Mr. Adams was President, and he did not want an army sent into the 
country. Mr. Randolph said, " We are told this conspiracy is defeated, or has 
succeeded to the utmost. If it has succeeded but in part, can it not be checked .' 
The newspaper evidence to which he alluded, he observed was the authentic 
proofs, at the trial of Judge Sebastian, of the disposition of the Spanish. Ceis- 
tUian honor and fame are no more. Spain, while treating with one hand, was 
preparing to stab us with the other. What has been the treatment of the 
Spanish Minister ? Why has he not been sent home ? When Miranda had 
gone, how great were his complaints and inquiries. We have no complaints 
or inquiries now made by him. New Orleans is the object, and can we doubt 
that he is concerned in it. Of one circumstance, he thought, we had sufficient 
evidence. He believed that if the conspirator should arrive at Baton Rouge 
before our troops, New. Orleans must fall. He wished not such an "union of 
honest men" to take possession of the key of the Mississippi, and shut the door 
in our face. He was not disposed to triumph, though he had ample cause. It 
would be no gratification to him, to triumph in the disgrace of the country. He 
had no hand in these acts of omission or commission which had brought us to 
the present disastrous state. He had expressed, he had foretold the danger of 
losing the delta of the Mississippi. He knew not who the modern Catiline 
would be, but expected there would be such. Yet the House seemed to be in a 
state of insensibihty or indifference, or were so economical, they wanted great- 
ness of soul enough to purchase a key to secure their strong box. They pur- 
sued a narrow and unaccountable policy. What would have been the feehngs 
of this House, if the British forces were now scouring the lakes, were along 
the 45th degree of latitude on our frontier ? What if the British minister had 
been ordered home, and his Court had continued him here — stuck him under 
the very nose of the executive ? The feelings and the measures of the House 
would be very different from what they are now. They would be what they ought 
to be, but what they are not. The resolution had been said to betray a want 
of confidence in the executive. He must be indulged in the cultivation of a 
sceptical philosophy. He should judge in pohtics as in rehgion, by works, not 
by faith. He would not mortgage his conscience to the executive in that man- 
ner. But the principle was wrong. The House was entitled to information. 
It was their duty to obtain it." 

On the 23d of December, Mr. Jefferson communicated a long message to 
the House, denoxincing Burr's conspiracy. Upon the strength of its sup- 



28 BIOGRAPHVOF 

posed dangerous tendency, and from the alarm the exposure^ occasioned,. 
the Senate passed a bill in secret conclave on the 26th of January, for a 
suspension of the habeas corpus, and sent it to the House for concurrence ; 
and on a motion to reject the bill, a Avarm debate arose. Mr. Randolph 
opposed it in an eloquent speech. He handled with great severity, " the 
monstrous, outrageous, violent usurpation of authority on the pai1 of General 
Wilkinson, in seizing and transporting two citizens of the United States 
(Dr. BoUman and Samuel Swartwout), of his own mere arbitrary will, refusing 
them a writ of habeas corpus, or even a hearing before a court. He called 
Burr's conspiracy a mere intrigue, nothing comparable to the western insurrec- 
tion, where no such tyrannic measure was ever thought of. He declared the 
contest now was, whether we were to live under a military or civil govern- 
ment — whether by passing this law, the House would connive at the violation 
of all law that had been committed by General Willdnson. As well might he 
have transported these men to Cayenne or Botany Bay. A mortal wound had 
been attempted upon the constitution, and he hoped the House would never 
countenance it." The bill was rejected by a large majority.! 

Burr was brought to Richmond the first of April, 1807, to undergo a trial before 
the District Court, his prmcipal scene of operations being on Blennerhasset's 
Island, in the State of Virginia. Mr. Randolph was among the leadijig men of 
the State summoned on the grand jurj% who found an indictment of treason 
against liim the July following. On the same jury he moved for an indictment 
against Gen. Wilkinson for misprision of treason, but being opposed by Gen. 
Taylor, was defeated. On examination of the evidence offered to the grand jury, 
the celebrated letter of Burr to Wilkinson, in cypher, which is herewith given, 
was laid before them by the General, who attended before them as a witness. 
The General gave the key by which he had deciphered it, and which seemed 
incomprehensible to all the jury except Mr. Randolph, who understood it at once, 
and explained it to the comprehension of the rest of the members. The chief 
ground of his charge against Wilkinson was, the length of time which he suf- 
fered to elapse from the time he received the letter until he divulged it, from 
which he inferred that the General was a party in Burr's conspiracy, and that he 
only awaited the event to declare himself openly — that on the failure of Burr's 
plans, and his capture and order for trial, he for the first time produced this letter, 
and entered the charge of treason against him. This proceeding, as well as other 
severe strictures uttered against the General at the preceding session, laid the 
foimdation of that enmity, which ended in the challenge on the part of the General. 

burr's letter. 

" I, Aaron Burr, have obtained funds and have actually commenced the enter- 
prise. Detachments from different points and under different pretences will ren- 
dezvous on the Ohio, the 1st of November next. Everything external and 
internal favors views. Protection of England is secured. T.* is gone to Ja- 

* Truxton. 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 29 

maica to arrange with the Admiral on that station and will meet at the Missis- 
sippi — England — Navy of the United States are ready to join. Special orders 
are given to my friends and followers. It will be a host of choice spirits. 
Wilkinson shall be second to Burr only. W. shall dictate the rank and promo- 
tion of his otScers. Burr shall proceed westward 1st August, never to return — 
with him go his daughter — -the husband will follow in October with a corps of 
worthies. Send forthwith an intelligent and confidential friend with whom 
Burr may confer. We shall return immediately with furthur interesting details. 
This is essential to concert and harmony of movement. Send a list of all per- 
sons known to Wilkinson west of the mountains, who could be useful, with a 
note delineating their character. By your messenger send me four or five of 
the commissions of your oificers which you can borrow under any pretence you 
please. They shall be returned faithfully. Already are orders given to the 
contractor to forward six months' provisions to points Wilkinson may name. 
This shall not be used till the last moment, and then under proper injunctions 
The project is brought to the point so long desired. Burr guarantees the result 
with his life and honor — the hves, the honor and fortrmes of hundreds, the 
best blood in the country. Burr's plan of operation is to move down rapidly 
from the falls on the 15th November with the first 500 or 1000 men in hght 
boats now constructing for that purpose, to be at Natchez between the 5th and 
the 15th December. There to meet Wilkinson — then, to determine whether it 
will be expedient in the first instance to seize on or pass by Batoij Rouge. On 
receipt of this send Burr an answer. Draw on Burr for all expenses, &c. The 
people of the country to which we are going are prepared to receive us. Their 
agents now with Burr say if he will protect theii rehgion and will not subject 
them to a foreign power, in three weeks all will be settled. The gods invite 
to glory and fortune. It remains to be seen whether we deserve the boon.- 
The bearer of this (^Doctor Bollman) goes express to you. He will hand a for- 
mal letter of introduction to you from Burr, a copy of which is subjoined. He 
is a man of inviolable honor and perfect discretion. Formed to execute rather 
than project — capable of relating facts with fidelity, and incapable of relating 
them otherwise. He is thoroughly informed of the plans and instructions of 

and -will disclose to you as far as you inquire and no farther. He has 

imbibed a reverence for your character and may be embarrassed in your pre- 
sence. Put him at ease and he will satisfy you. Doctor Bollman will hand 
you the duphcate." 

The first time I had the pleasure of Mr. Randolph's acquaintance, was at the. 
conunencement of the session of 1 807. Several members collected at Crawford's,, 
in Georgetown, to compose a mess. The evening before the opening of the ses- 
sion, I took my place among them, where I met with two old acquaintances, 
Richard Stanford and James M. Garnett, political partisans of IVIr. Randolph. 
After some general observations by Mr. Stanford and myself, he said that as I 
had voted for the administration as an Elector, if I had any views of official 
favor, now was the time to apply. I rephed that I had already paid my re- 
spects to the President, and on making the usual inquiries, found, to my sur- 
4 



30 B r G R A P H Y F 

prise, " the market forestalled." This created a laugh through the mess, and 
among the rest, Mr. Randolph was so pleased that he arose and got Mr. Stan- 
ford to introduce me, hoping, from this incident, that I would become a new 
recruit in his opposition corps, in which he miscalculated, as I continued a con- 
sistent Republican, and gave my humble support to the administration; and al- 
though I was frequently under the necessity of voting against Mr. Randolph, it 
did not occasion any coolness between us. 

A few evenings afterward, while the mess were arranged around the fire in 
the sitting-room, Mr. Randolph came in somewhat excited, and immediately be- 
gan to talk of his discontent. He said that Melvil the tailor had for years been 
his beautifier, and he had always paid his bills without dispute. He had been 
taking a stroll through the business part of the towTi, and on the way had called 
on Melvil, who prevailed on him to have his measure taken for a coat. He had 
not proceeded far from the shop before he was accosted by a retailer and request- 
ed to look at a piece of cloth, which, upon inspection, he found superior and 
much cheaper than that Melvil had shown him. He was persuaded to buy a 
pattern, provided M. would agree to make it up instead of the one he had spok- 
en for. On calling upon M. for that purpose, he positively refused, and held 
Mr. R. to his hard bargain. Mr. R. said of course he should fulfil it, but 
Melvil should never have any more of his cujtom. A member present then inter- 
posed and informed Mr. Randolph that he was not acquainted with the mode of 
shopping prevalent there. The merchants there had two prices — an asking 
price and a taking one ; and he used to send hia wife around to make all the 
purchases for the family, by which he made a saving of 1 5 or 20 per cent. Mr. 
Randolph replied : " I had rather my wife should make a living any other way 
but one than that." His being a confirmed old bachelor made the remark the 
more comical. 

Mr. Garnett, a few evenings afterward, on his return from canvass-back duck 
shooting, told an adventure which occurred on the part of another hunter he had 
fallen in with on the banks of the Potomac. " The man had followed a large flock 
till it entered a cove, and secreted himself behind a log, to await an opportunity to 
get a number in a raiige. After waiting in the cold for some time, and finding a fair 
chance to place his gun over the log to take rest, and just as he had taken sight 
and was ready to pull trigger, what should he see but another long gun directly 
opposite, aiming at the same object. He had hardly time to drop down behind 
the log, before away blazed the other sportsman, the whole load coming into 
the log behind which he was — ' Lying,' said Randolph, finishing the sentence 
for Mr. Gamett, to the great diversion of the company." 

PROCEEDINGS IN CONGRESS, 1808. 

On the 24th of November, 1808, Mr. Randolph moved that the injunction of 
secresy imposed on so much of the President's message of the 9 th instant,^ as 
relates to the substance of the communication of our Minister at London and 
Paris be removed — but it failed, 39 to 87. 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 31 

That injunction of secresy had been imposed since December, 1807, when 
the embargo message was sent to the House, and it was thought pre- 
mature to remove it. His great speech of the session was delivered on the 20th 
of November, against the Report of the Committee of Foreign Relations, which 
closed with a resolution, " That the House cannot, without a sacrifice of their 
rights, independence and honor, submit to the late edicts of Great Britain and 
France." The Committee recommended a non -intercourse with both nations. 
He began by sapng, that one-fourth part of the session had elapsed, and the 
House were merely debating an abstract proposition, which, whether rejected or 
adopted, was perfectly nugatory-, and could not become the basis of any liieasure. 
They were merely making speeches for the amusement of the gallery, the people 
of Washington and the vicinity. He inquired, on whom the declaration contain- 
ed in the first resolution was to operate .' Was it upon the House themselves .-' 
Had their conduct been such heretofore, or was it such now, as to render it neces- 
sary for them to swallow the dose for their own good .' Was it for the people to 
rouse their courage to the sticking point ? or was it for the belligerents of Europe, 
to be sent to Gen. Armstrong and Mr. Pinckney, to be administered to France 
and Great Britain for the purpose of convincing them of our resolution and prow- 
ess .' He thought it too late to produce such an effect upon them by such means. 
He regretted the introduction of this Report, as it goes to estabUsh the belief which 
has been too long entertained, that words are all the means to be used for vindi- 
catbig our rights. To make an iinpiessioii upon Europe, something more sub- 
stantial must be resorted to. This mode of defence by words has been too long 
resorted to. He would not follow the example of gentlemen, by recounting 
in detail the wrongs we had received and submitted to, from the great belligerents 
and the Httle belligerents. He had no stomach for such repasts. It was no plea- 
sure to him to be repeating, like Shylock, " On such a day you called me dog, 
on such another day, you spat upon my gaberdine." He had no pleasure in 
reading the reports of committees, however finely they may be dressed in argu- 
ment. He wished the aggressors had more of the argument, and we less of the 
injury. As long as we would quietly submit to the insult and the injury, they 
would consent to let us have the best of the argument. He felt deep mortifica- 
tion and hiuniliation in this perpetual theme of wrongs and insults, and our 
only means of repelling them, words, words, words, correspondences of minis- 
ters abroad, and reports of committees at home. In this whole Report there was 
not one word of substance, all was prologue, episode and epilogue. Still he did 
not mean to find fault with the particular Report. It was pretty much after the 
fashion of the times — the old dose which had been so often served up, but not of 
quite so exquisite cookery as he had seen before. It might, perhaps, be answered, 
that the resolution was nothing by itself, yet when taken in connection with 
others, it had a meaning. He asserted that it had none, or it had more than 
meets the eye or ear. If it has any meaning, it is a declaration of war. The 
resolutions, taken together, are inconsistent with each other. In one breath it is 
asserted that we cannot, without a sacrifice of national honor and independence , 
submit to these edicts ; in the next we declare that we will submit. It would be 



32 BIOGRAPHYOF 

objected, that a temporary suspension of commerce is not submission. But the 
suspension is not temporary ; there is not a word in the statute book which 
Umits the duration of this suspension. If an unHmited suspension of commerce, 
in comphance with the order of foreign governments, be not submission, he knew 
not in what submission consists. He said he had not the assurance to pronounce 
upon that floor, that the embargo was a measure of resistance, when the Govern- 
ment had officially declared to the governments of Europe, that it was no such 
thing, but merely an internal regulation. If not resistance, it must be submission. 
He then examined the statements of those who undertook to show that the 
pressure of the embargo was greater in the eastern than in the southern States. 
He compared the distress occasioned by the embargo, with that produced by the 
excise law, when the father of his country was obliged to raise his arm to chas- 
tise his undutiful children, and concluded that the former was much more severe 
than the latter ever was, and consequently that the virtue and patriotism of the 
country were much greater now than at that period. He next took a view of the 
origin of the present Constitution, and proved that it had its rise in a disposi- 
tion to have some general provision for the protection of commerce — that under 
it, commerce rose and flourished beyond anything that had been anticipated — 
and now, to the astonishment of everybody, without any warning, the navigat- 
ing section of the Union, and that section of the Union which produces most of 
the articles of exportation, have united in destroying both. He then adverted 
to the third resolution, to make innnediate provision for the defence of the coun- 
try, and asked what was the plan of defence ? He asked, whether a man who 
felt himself insulted beyond all power of forbearance, usually resolved upon 
providing more effectually for his defence by adding another bolt to the street door, 
another nail to the embargo ? * * * We have offered to take off the embargo 
with respect to each, and both have refused to revoke their edicts. Our present 
situation, said he, reminds me of the story of Jack in the " Tale of a Tub.'' 
" We have hanged ourselves for spite, in hopes they would cut us down. But 
to our utter disappointment, they preferred to let us dangle in our garters." 

Mr. Randolph spoke again on the same subject on the 8th of December, and 
made such an impression on the House, that one of the majority thought they 
ought to take further time for deliberation. On the 16th, the question was taken 
on the resolution and carried, ayes 113, noes 2 ! ! 

On all private claims, or where his judgment was not warped by parly-spirit, 
he voted without fear, favor or afTection. Atthe Session of 1807, Philip B. 
Key's seat was contested by Patrick Magruder, on the ground of non-residence 
within the district, he residing in Georgetown. On a visit to Mr. Key on 
horseback, in company wth his friend Garnett, in February, upon dismounting 
at the door, the ground being slippery with ice and snow, he trod upon an 
uneven surface, and fell heavily, Avrcnching his hip so badly that he could not 
walk. He was taken up in great pain, and carried into the house and put on a 
bed, which he was not able to leave for a month, when he returned to his 
lodgings. The pain was so great that it deprived him of sleep for three 
nights, during which time Mr. Garnett lay in the room with him, and was kept 



JOHN RANDOLPH. • 33 

5awake the whole time by the groanings of his friend, and his mental anxiety 
on his account.. But what was a remarkable circumstance, Mr. Gamett 
observed he felt no inconvenience from the want of sleep, but arose every 
morning as fresh as if he had slept the whole night. Mr. Randolph received 
every attention, and the most delicate care from the lady, and the other female 
members of the family, during the whole time of his confinement there. Mr. 
Key's hospitaUtie.s had been conspicuous, in the shape of dinner and supper 
parties given to the members, some of whom were by these arts, either neutral- 
ized, or reconciled to vote in favor of Mr. Key. When the question came 
up, on the report of the committee of elections, in favor of the sitting member, 
Mr. Randolph arose in his place and made a speech against it, or the right of 
Mr. Key to a seat in that House. In his introductoiy remarks, he expressed 
his many obligations to Mr. Key for the kind attention and hospitality shown 
him on the occasion, but he must vote from the convictions of his unbiassed 
judgment. The report of the committee, however, in favor of Mr. Key vsrae 
agreed to and he kept his seat. 



CHAPTER III. 



PROCEEDINGS IN CONGRESS. 



John Randolph, like lago, " was nothing without he was critical," and on 
most occasions his criticism sprang from the same unworthy source, malice. 
On the opening of the first day of the session of 1807, the first speech dehvered 
was by him, and inflicted a cruel and unprovoked injury on the subject of i^ 
On the House was called upon to elect a clerk in thep lace of Mr. John Beckley, 
who had died in the recess. His head clerk, Nicholas B. Vanzandt, well ac- 
quainted vdth the duties of the office, was nominated with Patrick Magruder, 
and one or two others. On the first ballot, he ran ahead of the rest, and came 
within four votes of being elected. Randolph took his seat just before the 
second ballot, and got up and delivered a severe philippic agamst Vanzandt, 
whom he charged with having, at a previous session, when the House was 
sitting with closed doors, listened through the key-hole of the door of the gal- 
lery, and was suspected of having caught and betrayed the secret. The Houee 
was taken by surprise, and more than one half being new members and unac- 
quainted with Randolph's character, conceived strong prejudices against Van- 
zandt He offered by a letter to the Speaker, if the House would hear him, to 
disprove the charge, but no one stepped forward in his defence, and when he 
approached Mr. Randolph's seat to offer some explanations, lie rudely ordered 
him away. This attack was fatal to poor Vanzandt, and Magruder in the next 



34 EIOGRAPHYOF 

ballot obtained the majority. Vanzandt, with his amiable family, was thus thrust 
out of his usual channel of maintenance, and had to resort to other shifts and 
expedients to obtain a living. He came out with his card the next day, com* 
plaining most feelingly of his treatment by Mr. Randolph,- which created only 
the unavailing regret of the House that they had not had the opportunity of 
forming a timely judgment of his pretensions. After struggling some years 
in the imsuccessful business of a wine merchant, he was very properly provided 
for with a clerkship in the Treasuiy Department, which he still occupies. The 
secret of Randolph's persecution soon after leaked out. Vanzandt was the 
protege of Mrs. Madison, having married a relative, one of three sisters, the 
Misses Southall of Virginia. 

At the commencement of the session of 1807 Joseph B. Varniunwas elected 
speaker by a majority of only one vote. Mr. Macon not being present he could 
not be run as Speaker, and Mr. Randolph struggled hard to have the election post- 
poned till next day. In consequence of this change in the Chair, which was 
in a great measure caused by the alleged partiality of Mr. Macon towards Mr. 
Randolph in not calling him to order on proper occasions, but peiTnitting him to 
indulge in personaUties, Mr. Randolph was removed from the head of the 
Committee of Ways and Means, and G. W. Campbell of Tennessee, placed 
there. When the navy appropriation bill came up on the 9th of November, 
Mr. Randolph raised his voice against the item of $87,000 for timber for 
the navy, while the estimate of the Secretary was calculated for timber to build 
73 gun-boats. Some other expenses had been incurred by the President, in 
anticipation of the meeting of the Houses, which he justified by the urgency 
of the occasion. Among them were contracts for sulphur and saltpetre, for 
manufacturing a requisite supply of powder, in which our magazines were 
deficient. By an existing law, the President had a right to increase the marine 
corps to 1004 men, and under existing circumstances he had availed himself of 
it. It is true, no appropriation had been made for the purpose, but he con- 
strued the law as by implication giving him the power incidentally of supporting 
and clothing them while in service. The same reasoning applied to timber. It 
was thought necessary, for " our common defence," to provide for the protection 
of our defenceless ports, and prevent our cities, as had been threatened by the 
commanders of the British squadron in the Chesapeake, from being attacked 
and burned. With this view, a supply of timber had been procured, suitable 
for gun-boats, but might be apphed to other purposes of naval construction, or 
if not found necessary to use in that form, it could be sold without loss. 
Mr. Randolph allowed that the crisis which occasioned these expenses, was an 
imminent one. " It was so imminent that Congress ought to have been immedi- 
ately convened, that they might have given authority, said he, for tliese extra- 
ordinary expenses, and for adopting such measures as national feeling and 
national honor called for. He confessed, he felt extremely reluctant to vote 
large sums to support our disgraced and degraded navy, for expenses too, that 
had been illegally incurred. He had endeavored in vain to procure Gallatin 
on Finance, which ought to be in our library. In that book, he recollected a 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 55 

case exactly apposite to the present, where the President of the United States, 
during the Pennsylvania insurrection, made use of money to defray expenses 
incurred, which had been appropriated for a different object. He concluded 
by saying, that when he rose, he did not mean to say much on this subject, but 
he could not restrain his indignation, at hearing such anti-republican and highly 
federal opinions, as had been supported by the gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. 
Campbell." Mr. Randolph spoke twice afterwards — and observed, that he did 
not intend to vote against this appropriation, but he voted to pay these expenses 
with the same reluctance as he should to pay the debt due a gambler who had 
cheated him. In his third speech, he said he understood the gentleman from 
Tennessee to say he should not apply to him for instructions in political prin- 
ciples. He would assure the gentleman that lie was one of the last persons he 
should wish to instract, and when he wanted pupils he should not solicit him 
to become one. He should give his vote in favor of the appropriation, because 
the expense had been incurred by the patriotism of our citizens, and it would be 
an indelible disgrace not to discharge it. The President had received, said he, 
an insult from a minister of a foreign power (the Chevalier Don Carlos Mar- 
tinez D'Yreujo — who, being charged with a participation in the Spanish con- 
spiracy to .separate the Union, was ordered by Mr. Madison to leave Washing- 
ton in 1806, but refused to go, and wrote an insolent letter in reply), and now 
had received a slap on the cheek, and through him, he himself had received a 
slap on the cheek by the navy of another. On the receipt of the President's 
confidential message, the 21. st of December, recommending an embargo, Mr. 
Randolph offered a resolution for carrying it into effect. 

About the period of Mr. Jefferson's tenn, the Republican party, with Mr. 
Jefferson, had fixed their hopes upon Mr. Madison, as worthy to receive the 
presidential mantle. John Randolph, at a levee, asked Mr. Jefferson when he 
expected Mr. Monroe back from his mission to France. Mr. Jefferson, divining 
Randolph's views in making the inquiry, asked him if Mr. Madison would not 
serve his purpose. Randolph said no, he wanted no more philosopher Presi- 
dents. In February, 1808, the Republican members of Congress, not having 
the fear of John Randolph before their eyes, and instigated by Stephen Rowe 
Bradley of Vermont, as chairman of a prior meeting, held a caucus at the 
capitol, in the senate chjunber, to nominate James Madison as the successor of 
Thomas JeSerson. Randolph, of course, denounced the meeting, and boasted 
that no one present at it would dare avow the name of his choice. The writer 
of this sketch, being detained by indisposition, sent his proxy by John Mont- 
gomery of Maryland, to vote in his name for James Madison and George Clin- 
ton. His name happened to be published in the papers next day among the pro- 
ceedings of the caucus, and he received the unction of Randolph's praise for 
being the only member present that openly and boldly risked his election, by 
staking it on Mr. Madison's. 

On the last of December Mr. Randolph introduced a resolution, prefaced by 
a few remarks, requesting the President of the United States to inquire into the 
conduct of General James Wilkinson, on the charge of his having corruptly 



36 BIOGRAPHYOF 

received from the Governor of Louisiana, the Baron de Carondelet, in I796j 
money by way of pension from the Spanish Government or their agents. It 
seems that a letter was sent by the Baron to one Thomas Portel, of New Madrid, 
advising him of the shipment of the sum of f9,460 in specie, to be held to 
the order of General Wilkinson. Mr. Randolph also produced a letter from 
Thomas Power, stating that he had, at General Wilkinson's request, dehvered 
the money to Philip Nolan at Cincinnati, which Nolan received in some barrels 
of sugar and coffee and conveyed to Frankfort in a wagon. In a speech on 
the resolution the 11th of January following, he implicated the General in Burr's 
conspiracy, and charged him with having garbled and mutilated the letter in 
cipher. He instanced the passage which says, " I have actually commenced," 
not the enterprise, but the " eastern detachment," implying that there might be 
some western detachment under Wilkinson. Again he makes the letter read, 
" everything internal and external favors views," which, according to Mr. Ran- 
dolph, was " favors" our " views," and the project, " my dear friend," is omit- 
ted in the General's version. " These suppressions," said Mr. Randolph, " con- 
veyed to my mind an impression, which I never attempted to conceal, of the 
guilt, not only of the principal, but of many of the inferior officers of the army. 
Guilt is always short-sighted and infatuated. Not content with that dubious 
sort of faith which it might sometimes acquire, when not brought to the trial, 
it had attempted not only to occupy the middle ground of doubt and suspicion, 
but to clothe itself with the reputation of the fairest character in the country, 
and in so doing, had torn the last shred of concealment from its own deformity. 
The motion to indict General Wilkinson before the grand jury at Richmond, of 
which he was a member," said he, " for misprision of treason, failed from a 
mere flaw, or legal exception. His moral guilt was not denied by a single 
member of the jury. The treason having been alleged to have been commit- 
ted in Ohio, and General Wilkinson's letter to the President being dated a short 
time before that act, he had the benefit of what lawyers call a legal excep- 
tion. He and his colleagues on the jury believed the army was tainted to the 
core with that disease." On the 1st of January, or the next day after the deli- 
very of these reproachful and insulting remarks, General Wilkinson sent Mr. 
Randolph a challenge. Mr. Randolph refused to accept it, and returned for an- 
swer, that he could not descend to the General's level. The General then posted 
him in handbills, throughout the District, in the following teims : 

" Hector Unmasked. — In justice to my character, I denounce John Ran- 
dolph, M. C, to the world, as a prevaricating, base, calumniating scoundrel, 
poltroon and coward." 

In a postscript to his letter in reply to Mr. Randolph's refusal to meet him, 
he said, " Embrace the alternative still within your reach, and rise to the level 
of a gentleman ;" and added, " The first idea suggested by your letter in re- 
sponse to mine was the chastisement of my cane, from which the sacred respect 
I owe to the station you occupy in the councils of the nation alone protected 
you." 



J II N R A N D L P n . 37 

Mr. Randolph's resolution was agreed to, after several days' debate ; and on 
the 14th of January Mr. Jefferson sent a message to the House, saying that 
Mr. Clark's statement gave him the first intimation of General Wilkinson's 
having corruptly received money from the Spanish authorities, and that the in- 
quiry should be pursued with rigorous impartiality. General Wilkinson had 
asked of the Secretary of War, on the first of January, to raise a court of in- 
quiry into his conduct, which was acceded to, and the court held its session in 
AV'ashington, and received from the committee of investigation in the House all 
the information they had obtained. It resulted in subjecting the General to a 
regular court-martial, held at Fredericktown, in Maryland, when the General 
was honorably acquitted. 

Jacob Crowninshield, a distinguished member from Massachusetts, moved an 
amendment, or a substitute for Mr. R.'s resolution for an embargo, and supported it 
with many cogent reasons. Mr. R. opposed it, and insisted upon the adoption of 
his own. Crowninshield replied, and as each appeared obstinately tenacious of 
his own proposition and were up and down alternately, an hour or more, with- 
out giving way, a message was received from the Senate, in the midst of this 
" war of words," informing the House that they had passed a resolution for lay- 
ing a general embargo. By common consent, the Senate's resolution was taken 
up, and INIr. Randolph's laid on the table. Strong opposition was raised against 
it by the Federal members, and a warm debate ensued, and the House adjourned 
at night, without taking the question. It was continued all the next day, with 
undiminished zeal and ability until 11 o'clock at night, when just as the roU 
was about to be called, and the ayes and nays ordered, John Randolph took the 
floor. Everybody, of course, expected he would support the resolution, and 
what was their astonishment to hear him come out dead against it. He made a 
poor excuse for this sudden change of opinion, and spoke half an hour in oppo- 
sition to its passage. The vote was then taken and the resolution passed, and 
the House adjourned at near 12 o'clock, on the 24th of December, perfectly 
exhausted. The conclusion was irresistibly drawn, that John Randolph's oppo- 
sition arose from pure envy — the jealousy of another's success in carrying 
through so ipiportant a measure. His rival, however, Mr. Jacob Crowninshield, 
a gentleman of great natural ability, a good speaker and a most honorable man, 
during a debate on Friday, the 8th of January, in which he was earnestly en- 
gaged, in opposition to Mr. Randolph's resolution of inquiry into the conduct of 
Gen. Wilkinson, burst a blood-vessel of the lungs, and bled so profusely that he 
could barely be got to his lodgings alive, and died the 15th of April afterwards. 

This measure, with others growing out of it, as the act supplementary, or the 
enforcement act, excited such bitter feelings between the two parties, that the 
most violent, inflammatory, and personally abusive speeches were delivered, by 
the northern members especially, and scarcely a member spoke without violating 
the niles of the House. John Randolph was not sparing of his abusive lan- 
guage ; he had adroitness enough to avoid any direct personal insults, Avhile he 
aimed his blows at the administration. But among the inveterate politi- 
cal belUgerents in the House, Barent Gardenier of New York was the most 



38 BIOGRAPHY OF 

provoking. On the act supplementary to the embargo, on the 30th February, 
he accused the House of being actuated by a subserviency to the ambitious 
views of Bonaparte. Many members replied to him in no courteous strains, 
and among the rest R. M. Johnson, who pronounced it a base slander. G. W. 
Campbell said, he knew no other answer to give, than the he direct, and pro- 
nounced the charge an infamous falsehood. Though at least three members had 
used the same language, yet, I presume, from his peaceful deportment and rather 
Quaker look, Gardenier singled him out, probably under an expectation he 
would apologise and avoid a fight. But he mistook his man. Campbell refused 
to recall a single word, apd Gardenier challenged him. They met in Bladens- 
burg, the great battle-groimd, on the 2d of March, 1808, and at the first fire 
Gardenier fell, desperately wounded. He recovered, however, in the course of 
six weeks, and learned a lesson of moderation which he did not soon forget, and 
for the balance of his career exhibited a decided improvement in his manners. 

On the first of December, Mr. Randolph introduced three resolutions, which 
he supported by some pertinent preliminary remarks : — 

1st, That provision ought to be made by law for the adequate and comforta- 
ble support of such officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary war as are still hv- 
ing in a state of indigence to the disgrace of the country which owes its liberty 
to their valor. 

2d, That provision ought to be made by law for arming and equipping the 
whole mihtia of the United States. 

3d, That provision ought to be made by law for procuring a formidable train 
of artillery for the service of the United States. 

He moved that these resolutions should be referred to a Committee of the 
Whole on the state of the Union for the next day, which w-as agreed to. He 
said that as long as the public defence had been before a respectable committee 
of the House, and while their report was pending, he had deemed it unavailing 
in him to offer anything on the subject. But he felt the necessity so urgent that 
he could no longer dispense with it, to offer some propositions to the House on 
this important subject. That necessity grew out of the general opinion which 
appeared to prevail in the House, that a peculiar mode of defence was the only 
one proper to be adopted. It arose, also, out of the enormous sums he had 
heard proposed for that mode of defence, and which, if agreed to, we should, 
when we wished to adopt those measures of defence equally essential, find an 
empty treasury, and be compelled to resort to the system of loans recommended 
by the Secretary of the Treasury. He said the militia ought to be armed and 
equipped, ready at all times to oppose an invading enemy. It had been said, if 
a war took place, we should have to contend with enemies on our frontier : that 
we should be attacked by the savages at Montreal. Whether we considered our- 
selves at war, or on the eve of war, it behoved us to arm the natural defence of 
the country, which had carried us through dangers, and on which we should 
always have to rely. He contended that muskets in the hands of our people, 
and cannon on our shores, were the proper methods of defence. There was 
another measure, he said, that ought to be adopted, previous to any step for the 



JOHNRANDOLPH, 39 

defence of the nation : a measure of justice, a measure which would not only 
entitle us to success, but which was eminently calculated to insure it ; a measure 
which would unite all hearts and hands in our service. This was, that the 
House should no longer permit the nation to labor under the stigma of leaving 
the men who had formerly fought in its service, to perish in the streets. With 
what propriety can we call upon the youth of our country to arm in its defence, 
when they see their fathers standing at the door of this hall begging for bread. 
On the 3d of the month, Mr. Randolph called for the orders of the day, and these 
resolutions came up for adoption. The first one was agreed to without opposi- 
tion. The House was not aware, nor was Mr. Randolph apprehensive of the 
many millions which it was calculated to draw from the treasury for the support, 
under a pension system, of the venerable remains of that band of Revolutionary 
worthies, whom it was intended to render comfortable the short remnant of their 
days. Some years afterwards,when it was proposed to extend the system, and Avhen 
he found the sums required to satisfy that class of pubhc creditors, so far beyond 
his anticipation, and the inequality of its operation, he changed his views and 
opposed it, declaring that the current of this expenditure ran as regularly North- 
east as the Gulf Stream. On the second resolution, Mr Eppes said that the 
whole number of militia was 640,000, and estimating the price of guns at ^10, 
they would cost upwards of $6,000,000. He moved to strike out " the whole 
body," and insert " the 100,000 men held in requisition by the act of 1806, 
and the 30,000 volunteers by the law of 1S07." JMr. Randolph said, " he should 
consider an agreement to this amendment as equivalent to a rejection of his reso- 
lution, because, if adopted, it would turn up in fact, that to arm these troops, the 
greater part of whom were already armed, it would not be necessary to expend 
a single dollar. He had no intention of draining the treasury of six millions of 
dollars. His idea was, that an appropriation (and he hoped it would be a liberal 
one) would be made towards arming the militia, and at the same time the nation 
should pledge itself to put arms in the hands of every man capable of bearing 
them. He beheved that all the laws for regulating the militia were futile till 
arms were put into their hands. It was no use to pass such laws as long as men 
were mustered with walking-canes : and he would venture to say, if the same 
rules were put in practice over freemen as were adopted over the hirelings of 
despots, it would occasion discontent and perhaps mutiny." Mr. Eppes's amend- 
ment was lost and the resolutions were agreed to. 

Though a httle premature, I may here state the occasion and the result of 
the quarrel between Randolph and Eppes : — 

On the 28th of Februarj^ 1811, the House had been engaged all the fore 
part of the day upon some retaliation measures, a Supplementary Embargo Act, 
On the motion of Mr. Eppes, the House took a recess, from 4 to 7 o'clock, 
P. M., at which time it was understood the question would be taken, without 
further debate. Mr. Randolph in the meantime" reached Washington, and after 
a hearty dinner, which was well diluted with the homely stimulus of whisky, 
he took his seat, for the first time during the session, at the hour of adjournment. 



40 B I G R A P H 1 F 

As soon as the House formed, Mr. R. got up and moved it to adjourn, and 
among otlier reasons, stated that he had just reach(^l his seat after a long and 
fatiguing ride, and M'as not in a condition to vote or to speak on a question of 
that importance at that hour. Mr. Eppes opposed it, and suggested that the 
motive of his colleague in making the motion was primarily to delay and ulti- 
mately to defeat the object of the hill. Mr. R. got up much excited, and gave 
Mr. Eppes the He direct, in so many words, by asserting that it was not true ; 
and although he was called to order, yet he managed to keep the floor until he 
reiterated the charge three times. Mr. Eppes wrote a challenge and lianded it 
to Richard M. Johnson, who immediately dehvered it to Mr. Randolph. 

While Mr. Randolph was out, for the purpose of entering into the usual 
preliminaries for the anticipated duel, and holding a conversation with his 
second, the House had ordered the previous question, which cut off all farther 
debate. Randolph returned just as the main question was about to be put and 
got up to speak, but being stopped by the Speaker's informing him what had 
taken place, he flew into a furious passion, and declared that the House had 

disgraced itself. The epithet " d d liar" was heard from several quarters, and 

Dr. Shaw of Vermont, said the rascal ought to be expelled. The House was in 
an uproar for some minutes, but , the roll was called, the bill passed and the 
House adjourned. A " note of dreadful preparation" was heard for days together 
from the side of John Randolph. He dispatched an express to Baltimore for a 
celebrated pair of hair-triggers, and engaged the services of a surgeon from the 
same place, and under the drilhng of a first-rate shot, practised two hours daily 
about the woods on the turnpike to the Northeast of the Capitol. It was dan- 
gerous to toavel the road, as frequent cracks, followed by the whizzing of balls, 
were heard by travellers on the road, to their no httle apprehension. But all this 
mighty preparation and ostentatious parade was to end in smoke. General 
Wilkinson was Eppes's second, and in a few days, from being perfectly igno- 
rant of the use of the pistol, he became aiirst-rate marksman. Wilkinson called 
on me at the time, and knowing my friendship^fcr Eppes, informed me of the 
rapid progress of his pupil in " the art of the duello." But he was decided in the 
opinion it would never come off. " If they fight," said he, " Eppes will kill him ; 
hut take my word for it, Randolph will back out. All this blustering and fuss 
is merely intended to bully Eppes, and then through the disinterested interfer- 
ence of a friend, to get the quarrel accommodated on the best terms he can." 
And so indeed it happened. On the eve of adjournment, on the 2d of March, 
1811, a friend of Randolph called on Richard M. Johnson, Eppes's second, who 
was a good-natured fellow, as was his principal Eppes himself, and offered, on 
the withdrawal of the challenge, to make a satisfactory explanation on the part 
of Randolph. The offer was accepted, the matter amicably settled, and the 
honor of the parties preserved whole with their hides. But you would be asto- 
nished to learn the minutiae and details of the science of duelism ; the care they 
take in selecting and putting in order the " irons." The bullet must fit to a nicety. 
The flint (there were no percussion locks invented then) examined, picked, and 
warranted sure. The powder, the first London duelling, had to undergo the pro- 



JOHNRANDOLPH. 41 

cess of wanning and drying, in a clean white crockery plate, over a chafing- 
dish or furnace of charcoal, from thence transferred to a sheet of white paper, 
and minutely examined by a microscope, grain by grain, and every mote or 
particle of extraneous matter removed, before it was rammed dowm the pistol's 
throat, to propel, with the celerity of lightning, the deadly ball ; it being a main 
point with Wilkinson, and other professors of the art since, to draw the antago- 
nist's fire. 

Having thus brought Randolph and Eppes, the two great party leaders, in 
near a deadly collision, we will let them (although we are anticipating the 
period by a few years) try their strength as opposing candidates in the elective 
arena. It seems that the breach between them was ostensibly, but never really, 
healed. Eppes resided in the district adjoining Randolph, in Chesterfield county. 
Eppes was the main prop of the administration, having to support nearly the 
whole brunt of the opposition on the floor, and by his readiness, his fluency, and 
impassioned eloquence, came out of the conflict with the highest credit. Ran- 
dolph's unreasonable and bitter opposition to the government of Mr. Jefferson, 
contin\iing unabated through that of his successor, excited much discontent 
among his republican constituents Finding no one in the district willing or 
able to oppose him effectually, they prevailed on Eppes to remove among them, 
and he accordingly settled in Buckingham, a short time previous to the election 
of 1815. The campaign between them was very warm and exciting. They 
both addressed the freeholders at the hustings and other public meetings, and 
Eppes, being a very popular speaker, aroused the prejudices and the passions 
of his auditors against Randolph, by exposing his defence of the aggressions of 
the national enemy, and his coalition with the federalists and Hartford conven- 
tionalists. B\ these means, he succeeded in defeating Randolph for the first 
time, by a majority of three hundred. Randolph's pride received a mortifying 
blow ; but he resolved to regain his lost popularity, by courting the popular 
favor during Eppes' absence at the seat of government. A powerful enemy, 
one that had contributed more than any other man to Randolph's defeat, was 
one Griggs, a Baptist preacher. Randolph " put on the armor and attitude" 
of a Christian, attended their meetings, showed marked attention to the elders of 
the society, talked with them, prayed with them, and exhorted all he met, with 
such feeling and pathos, as frequently to be melted into tears, or the counterfeit 
of them. By these means, he ingratiated himself in the favor of the Baptist, aa 
well as other religious denominations, while Eppes, who was naturally indo- 
lent, feeling assured of his power by his recent great victory, took no active 
steps to retain it. Nathaniel Macon used to say, that a majority of one was 
the best majority in the world. Eppes' large majority lulled him into a fatal 
sense of his security. In consequence of his supineness, Randolph succeeded 
at the next election by a small majority. Eppes was soon after translated to 
the Senate of the United States, and could afford to leave the field clear to his 
antagonist. 

Among the prominent members who composed the caucus of 1808, that 
nominated James Madison, was Wilson C. Nicholas of Virginia. Randolph 



42 BIOGRAPHYOF 

took a strong prejudice against him, giving him the name of the great earl of 
Warwick, your only king-maker. Randolph wanted to consider him as the 
leader of the administration party in the House, which honor, Mr. Nicholas's 
modesty caused him to decline. Mr. Nicholas was not an active member, 
though he made an impressive speech in favor of the embargo. Randolph 
never could hear Willis Alston. The first occasion of their enmity arose out of 
a dispute, which ended in an affray at the dinner table in 1804, at Miss Shields' 
boarding house. Alston was somewhat arrogant and presiuning in conversation, 
and during a warm altercation between him and Randolph, he made use of 
some expressions which Randolph deemed personal and insulting. The ladies 
having finished their meal, Randolph assisted in handing them out, and then 
pouring out a glass of wine, dashed it in Alston's face. Alston sent a decanter 
at his head in return, and these and similar missiles continued to fly to and fro, 
until there was much destruction of glass ware, though the blood of the grape 
was all that was shed on the occasion. Alston s<?nt either a challenge, or a 
note demanding an explanation, but Randolph having locked himself in his 
room, refused admittance, and denounced instant death to a,ny one that should 
attempt to enter on any such mission. So the matter ended for that time, and 
Randolph continued to treat Alston afterwards with studied contempt, being 
especially careful never to mention his name, or notice him in debate. He was 
driven from this course, however, at the session of January, 1810, by some 
highly provoking remarks of Alston, when pouncing upon him at one desperate 
spring, with fury flashing from his eyes, and the most bitter sarcasm, calling 
Alston " that thing," gave him such an unmerciful verbal castigation, as made 
Alston cower and cruige in his seat. 

Alston, however, could not learn to hold his tongue, and on many frequent 
occasions, would " have a fling" at Randolph. During the same session, the 
House having, on motion of Mr. Randolph, adjourned, as the members were 
breaking up, Alston remarked, loud enough to be heard by several members, 
and among them John Randolph himself, that the puppy still had respect shown 
him. Whether he alluded to Randolph, or his dogy of which he always had 
some at his heels, was a question, but as Alston proceeded dowm the stairs 
ahead of Randolph, the latter observed, " I have a great mind to cane him, 
and I believe I will," and immediately commenced a battery on Alston's head. 
Alston had no Aveapon, but turned roimd and tried to reach Randolph with his 
hand and seize him by the throat, and also kicked at him, but Randolph having 
the vantage ground, repeated his blows, knocked Alston's hat off, and gave 
him some severe cuts, till the blood began to flow. They were then separated ; 
Alston " unpacking his heart with words," was conducted to his quarters, where 
his wounds were dressed. The next day he appeared in his seat with his head 
bandaged. The district court then in session, took the case in hand. The 
grand jury presented an indictment against Randolph for a breach of the peace, 
and the court allowed him to offer evidence in extenuation, before mulcting him 
in a fine. This he did, and proved by several members that Alston had fre- 
quently made use of provoking language in regard to him. The court imposed 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 43 

a fine of #20, which Randolph paid and left the bar, by which their appraise- 
ment of Alston's head was fixed at a very moderate estimate. Randolph ruled 
with a sceptre of iron his httle corps of followers. They consisted of only 
half a dozen, and among them, the most talented was his colleague, Daniel 
Sheffy, who had risen by the force of his genius, from a cobbler's stall, to a 
seat in Congress. Sheffy, during a debate on some important question ventured 
to think and speak for himself. Randolph, maintaining different views, thought 
proper to punish Shefiy for his desertion. He commenced a personal attack 
upon him, threw into his teeth his low origin, and called to his especial recol- 
lection the old Latin proverb, ne sutor ultra crcpidam, that eveiy cobbler should 
stick to his last. Sheffy did not take this punishment with due submission, but 
retaliated with great spirit, acknowledged his humble origin, and stated that had 
Mr. Randolph been in his place, he would never have risen above it, but would 
have remained a cobbler to this day. Replies and rejoinders were kept up nearly 
two days, and these two now bitter foes worried one another like bull dogs, till 
they were dragged apart by the House proceeding to the orders of the day. 

We will now suggest a few obsei-vations on Mr. Randolph's style and ad- 
dress as an orator. From his last speeches in the Senate, which follow, we 
must come to the conclusion that " his mind began to unsettle." So different 
from his productions in his more youthful and vigorous days, they betray a 
morbid sensibility, and an apprehension of some dreaded danger that existed 
only in his over-excited imagination ; and his pledge, in his speech hereafter 
quoted, that he would prove that the leaders of the administration sometimes 
played their political game with a card too many, and sometimes too few, was 
never redeemed. In his latter years he could not confine himself to the point, 
but touched upon things in general, as if in a tone of conversational improvi- 
sation. He spoke so slow and deliberately tliat I have thought, in listening to 
him, that he had not considered the subject before he arose ; but as he pro- 
ceeded, his mind was put into motion, or rather commotion, and he threw off 
the new coiirage of his active brain as fast as it was struck. He was greatly 
assisted and encouraged, and generally arrayed his countenance in a bland 
smile, if he could .discover among his audience anyone paying particular atten- 
tion to his address. He would rivet his eye upon him and seem to address him 
alone ; and I have seen members in that case nod assent to his assertions as he 
proceeded, which he appeared to take as a marked favor. During his speech 
on the judiciary bill, I believe in April, fB26, I happened to be a listener, and 
standing near the President of the Senate, when Mr. Randolph was denouncing 
the Executive for buying up the leading prints in the different States. Among 
others he enumerated the Petersburg Intelligencer, and added one or two others, 
and looking steadily at me, asked, was there not the whole three that had given 
in their adhesion ? I was ignorant of the circumstance, and did not return the 
nod of assent, which seemed to confuse Mr. Randolph, and remarking that he 
knew who he was talking to, dropped that part of his subject. In his earher 
years, he was as remarkable for adhering to the question' before the House as 
other members, and when roused by opposition, .seldom left it tiU it was com- 



44 BIOGRAPHYOF 

pletely exhausted. He was then animated, cleai-, and distinct ; his delivery was 
forcible, and his language pure, his words select and strictly grammatical, and 
his order and arrangement lucid and harmonious. His voice was clear, loud 
and sonorous, and almost as tine as a female's, and in his extemporaneous 
efforts, in which he excelled, his action was perfectly suited to his expression. 
If he was treated with courtesy and deference by his antagonists, he always re- 
turned it with interest ; but if they provoked him by the use of any personality 
or unfairness in stating his arguments, he retaliated with terrible retribution. 
Although he was accused of being much more efficient in pulhng down than 
building up, yet there were some important measures for which the nation is 
indebted to his oratorical powers, as the originator and successful defender. 
Among them was the substitution, under the appropriate heads, of specific in- 
stead of general and indefinite appropriations, which he brought about, after a 
warm and exti'emely powerful discussion with Mr. Lowndes of South Caro- 
lina, who advocated the old system. The next measure which he introduced 
and carried through was the standing appropriation of $200,000 for arming the 
whole body of the militia, and it is calculated, according to his views, that the 
fund shall remain sacred to that object till every freeman in the United States 
shall possess a stand of arms complete. 



PERSONAL HABITS AND CHARACTER. 

Though we shall endeavor to portray Mr. Randolph's character fully at the 
close of this work, it may not be amiss, and it may prove some rehef to the 
more serious contemplation of his official course, to present some peculiar traits 
oi his private life and manners, that do not appear as necessary materials to fill 
up his regular picture— and yet seem too interesting to omit altogether. He 
retained both a part of the external appearance of his Indian descent, as Well as 
of its vengeful passions. His color was somewhat tawny ; he was straight, and 
he w-alked like the Indian with one foot placed on a straight line before the 
other. When he was seated at his desk, he appeared rather below the middle 
size, but when he arose, he seemed to unjoint or unfold himself, and stood erect 
near six feet high ; his lower limbs being disproportionately long for his body. 
His head was small, his hair light, and worn long, and tied behind ; his eyes 
were black and piercing, his mouth Mlindsome, but with the ai'rangement of his 
teeth, gave him a puerile look ; his chin rather pointed, and smooth or beard- 
less ; his hands small, and his fingers long and tapering. His dress was that of 
the old Virginia gentleman. He wore Avhite top boots, with drab or buckskin 
short clothes, and sometimes gaiters, and though neat, he was generally plain 
in his appearance, and had no ambition to conform to any prevalent fashion. 
He was free from almost every vice—" Never knew woman," like Malcolm, 
and never played a game at cards during his seat in Congress. His intimate 
friend, Mr. Macon, was fond of the game of whist, and one evening, when 
conversing together on the impolicy of joining fences, in which they both 



BIOGRAPHYOF 45 

agreed, some friends coming in, a game of whist was proposed, to which Mr. 
Macon readily assented, but Mr. Randolph reiused, saying, with truth, that ho 
never played cards. 

He was fond of a social circle aromid his parlor fire of an evening, and of 
conversing on agricultural subjects, declining to enter into politics out of the 
House. He was the soul of conversation, every person preferring to hear him 
than to heEir themselves talk. He was as brilliant and original on these occa- 
sions as he was on the floor of Congress, and would sit up till midnight, if he 
found a few friends willing to remain as long to listen to his discourses, On 
one occasion, a respectable and thrifty farmer, and particular friend of his, 
Nathan Luff'boro, Esq., of Georgetown, being present, Mr. Randolph and he 
commenced and continued for some hours, a most interesting and learned dialogue 
on farming. Mr. Monroe, in his last message, happened to inform the House, 
rather prematiuely, as it appeared, that there was a surplus in the treasury of 
about live millions of dollars, and having no definite way to dispose of it, required 
of Congress to direct in what manner it should be expended. The President 
and Congress were soon spared that trouble, for before the end of the session, 
■unsatisfied claims were presented to the treasury which completely exhausted 
that sum. Mr. Randolph, in his remarks on farming, passed a joke at the 
President's expense by seeing himself in a similar predicament, and commenced, 
by sajdng, that finding hunself in possession of a large disposable force, " and 
nowhere to dispose it," he deemed it necessary to turn it upon reclaiming a 
large portion of his exhausted acres for want of a sufficient quantity of fresh or 
new soil. He then proceeded to show by what process he had raised a heavy 
crop of tobacco, with wheat and Indian corn, in a discourse of two hours' dura- 
tion, which, if published, would compose one of the best treatises on agriculture 
extant. His judgment and opinions were confirmed by experience, and his 
farm of Roanoke, in Charlotte county, was a model farm. He rode much, and 
well, and generally travelled to Washington on horseback, with his servant, 
dogs, and gun. Once, however, during the non-intercourse, after reaching 
Stratford Old Court-house, as he informed us, he met the President's message, 
which smelt so strong of gunpowder, that he concluded to send his horses 
and boy back, not affording to keep them at board, at a time when produce 
would sustain a considerable fall, and he finished his journey in the stage. 
From the tenor of his conversation, as well as his habits, you would infer that 
he was poor; and so far from boasting of the steady improvement of his circum- 
stances, and his advance to wealth and independence, he would descant 
gloomily on the hardness of the times and bad markets, and complained, while 
speaking on the judiciary bill, that he had liked to have been sued. In one of 
his trips to Congress, when he alighted at a tavern to dine, he was joined by 
another traveller, his body servant, Johnny, being in attendance at the table. 
In the course of their meal, the traveller took the liberty of calling on Johnny to 
help him to different dishes. Mr. Randolph bore this freedom till the third 
call, when he forbad John to answer it. The stranger repeated the command. 
Mr. Randolph, fiuxing liis piercing eyes upon him, -wath a ferocious look, asked 
5* 



46 BIOGRAPHYOF , 

him wliat he meant, and if he knew who he was. The stranger replied that 
he neither knew nor cared, for the servant should wait on him as long as he sat 
at the table. Randolph rising in a rage, told him he was John Randolph of 
Roanoke, and the boy belonged to him. The stranger arose at the same 
moment, and answered, " I am Henry Watkins (we are not certain as to the real 
name), of Mecklenburgli, Virginia, and I am determined the fellow shall do 
what I command." Mr. Randolph, after surveying the stranger from head to 
foot, who stood before him firm and decided, began to unbend his brow, and at 
length proffered his hand, said " I knew you must be a Virginian from your high 
spirit ; I admire your resolution," and shaking hands, he bade Johnny to serve 
him as he desired, and took a glass of wine with him. Mr. Randolph was 
generally accompanied with one or two pointers, that proved no little trouble- 
some to the members. As soon as he opened the door of the hall, they would 
rush in and thrust their noses among the members, in every direction, and even 
indulged in the freedom of the floor, or the privilege of members, while respect- 
able strangers were excluded. The door-keeper did not like to incur the risk of 
turning them out. He was a good shot on the wing, and with Mr. Garnet took 
frequent excursions within the district, a little to the north of the Capitol, most 
excellent sporting grounds for quail and woodcock, from whence they generally 
returned in the evening with their bags well filled. He used to enter the House 
booted and spuiTed, with whip in hand, a few moments after it had come to 
order, and appeared to be desirous of attracting the attention of the members, by 
his loud salutation of some of his favored friends, to the fact of his presence, 
In the winter he was enveloped m a long lion-skin surtout, and on entering the 
jiall his face was nearly buried in a fur cap. He would sometimes stop short in 
flie middle aisle, and if he found any one up he did not care to listen to, he 
would abniptly turn on his heel and go out. The reporter of the Intelligencer 
in the winter of 1820, took a sketch of him in that imcouth and ludicrous 
figure, with nothmg visible but his two legs protruding out below, with his 
mouth, nose, and eyes, and with head erect, as if reconnoitering. It Avas one of 
ihe best likenesses ever hit off. He had a vast niunber of them printed, and 
Kept beside him in his seat, to dispose of to the members, and although he sbld 
scores of them daily for the balance of the session, the fact was kept a secret 
from the original, while the members enjoyed the joke occasioned by this cari- 
cature. 

His great failing was affectation. He had two kinds of address. One stiff 
and formal, with a long-ninning bow, and touch of the hat, and an artificial 
smile, for mere acquaintance, for those former friends towards whom he had 
^rown cool, and a warm, cordial and long-continued shake of the hands for his 
few bosom friends. He has been seen to walk up to Mr. Macon, while the 
House was in session, in the most ostentatious manner, and seizing his hand, 
would shake it so long and forcibly, that the old gentleman would appear- con- 
jtised. On another occasion, upon the eve of adjournment, he went up to Mr. 
Quincy to take his farewell. While he shook his hand, he had his face in his 
-handkerchief, and held his head aside as if in the act of shedding tears. Mr, 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 47 

^iiincy looked as if he did not know what to make of it ; and if there were any 
tears spent, it must have been those of merriment at such a ludicrous scene, by 
the spectators. In passing out of the Hall with his friend Garnet, he encoun- 
tered, near- the door, a Lyon (Matthew, of Kentucky), and offered him his 
hand. JVIr. Lyon drew back, and observed that he could not find it in his heart 
to shake hands with Mr. Randolph, because he had called him a " d — d old 
rascaJ." Mr. Randolph appealed to Mr. Garnet, who confirmed Mr. Lyon's 
statement, and Mr. Randolph replying, " it can't be helped," departed without 
exchanging the fai'ewell with him. 

Mr. Randolph's behavior to yoimg members, whose maiden speeches were 
indicative of friendly feeling towards the administration, was very illiberal. He 
was sure to bear down on them with a supercilious and authoritative manner, 
and apply to them personal invective and bitter sarcasm. His conduct put us 
in mind of breaking in colts. As soon as they ventured to parade before the 
house, to display their parts, he would spring on their backs and apply the 
whip and spur, and the more they reared, and pitched, and plunged, and caper- 
ed, the more he clung to them and gave them the lash, until having given them 
a thorough sweat, and taken off their wiry edge, he would dismount and leave 
them, to appearance, well broken political hacks. Sometimes, however, he 
Avould meet with his match, and some high mettled and blooded colts have 
proved unmanageable and threw the rider. Among them I may mention the 
name of Mr. McDuffie of South Carolina. 

Though he seldom went to church, he was a firm believer in the truths of 
revelation. He kept himself entirely pure from contact with courtesans, and 
never having been married (though he was once in imminent danger of com- 
mitting it), it was suspected that, from some cause, he was deficient in virihty. 
The occasion on which he came near being bound in the silken chains of wed- 
lock, occurred in Richmond, and not in the county, nor attended with the cir- 
cumstances narrated by the Washington correspondent of the Tribune, in July 
last. The lady's name was Miss Eggleston, whose father, we believe, was a 
member of Congress in 1800 to 1804, and she afterwai'ds became the wife of 
Mr. Randolph's cousin, Peyton Randolph, of Richmond. They had proceeded 
so far in the ceremony, that a License was obtained, a clergyman sent for, and 
the happy pair, hand m hand, were about to stand up to be joined together, 
when the mother handed Mr. Randolph a paper to read, and if he agreed, to 
sign. It was a deed of release or assignment of all the young lady's property 
for her exclusive benefit. Mr. Randolph asked the intended bride if it was a 
condition with her, or her will, that he should sign it. She answered in the 
affirmative, upon which Mr. Randolph, saying there was no farther use for the 
minister, took his leave and departed. 

Mr. Randolph was a humajie master and a kind neighbor. He saw, person- 
ally, into the wants and the complaints of his numerous slaves, administered to 
them as the occasion required, and studied their comfort in every particular. 
He used daily to ride over his fields, when they were at work ; and when he 
approached, they would make their obeisance with a touch of the hat, which 



48 BIOGRAPHYOF 

he would return with a noB or bow. When any of his neighbors were a little 
behind in their crops, Mr. Randolph would send a force to help them to finish, 
and he has been known to send a gang of hands seven or eight miles for that 
purpose. This, and his free and easy manner, rendered liim so very popular 
that they elected him, vmder all his faults and his growing infirmities, and, not- 
withstanding he did not attend his seat for whole sessions, till the day of his 
death. He was always spare, but his disease, dyspepsy and general debility, 
wasted him away to a mere skeleton. Such was he when he took up his final 
rest in Philadelphia, which he reached in May, 1833, in his old family carriage. 
His mind was so active, though his body was too weak to be capable of farther 
locomotion, that he appeared imconscious of his danger, or the approach of the 
king of terrors. Only the day before his death he wrote to a friend that he had 
found out the pedigree of a valuable horse. A clergyman, however, attended 
him and read portions of the scripture to him, while he lay in bed in an appar- 
ent doze or stupor. While thus occupied, he happened to lay the accent on the 
penultimate syllable of the words omnipotent God, when Mr. R., rising on his 
elbow and looking firmly at him, repeated omnipotent God, omnipotent. But 
the particulars of his death will be given, when we come to the solemn occasion. 



CHAPTER IV. 

DEBATES IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. MR. RANDOLPH'S SPEECH. 

He wished to submit a motion to the House, which would require, perhaps at 
least justify, some general observations. Dming his unavoidable absence from 
the House the present session, it had been some consolation to reflect, that if he 
had been unable to participate any way in the measures which the wisdom of 
the government might have devised to meet the necessity of the State, at least 
these measures were not any ways retarded or impeded by any opposition of 
his. True it is, that at the distance at which I was placed from the seat of 
government, and the mediimi through which I viewed its measures, it was im- 
possible for me to discern anything like a system pursuing or about to be pur- 
sued by the government of this nation. But this, sir, I attribute to my own 
want of information, not to the want of decision or wisdom in the government. 
I flattered myself that when I should have reached the seat of government, when 
I should be on the spot, I should then at least be able to discern a regular 
system of policy pervading the great councils of the nation. But, sir, using all 
the means accessible to me during the time I have been here, I have been unable 
to detect anything like design, anything like concert, anything like a plan about 
to be pursued by this House in relation to our national concerns, I ought per- 
haps to say, until this moment. But I understand, sir, at length the budget has 
been opened ; that a system has been brought forward for raising supphes by 



JOHNRANDOLPK. 49 

'ioans and taxes. It is in relation to the system that the motion which I am 
about to make will stand. I had indeed supposed, sir, that when the govern- 
ment should get into operation this session, the first act would be (if indeed we 
<;ould not build up) to pull down that which every one seemed to acknowledge 
was inefficient, ridiculous, and hurtful. I allude to the celebrated non-inter- 
course law ; and I certainly should have felt it my duty to submit a motion on 
that subject as soon as I took my seat, if I had not been informed that a bill was 
in transitu between the two Houses to effect that object. Why, indeed, the 
nation should have tolerated this acknowledged evil, I have never been able 
to discover. I had supposed the first to have been to do away this confessed 
evil, by way of preparation for some substantial good. In this, however, I 
have been unfortunately mistaken. Whether the people of the United States 
were ever to retrieve that flourishing commerce which had been so childishly 
spoiled, it was not for me to determine. Commerce was a delicate and ticklish 
thing : and when it had formed to itself new channels, like the mighty water- 
course, it was difficult indeed to turn it back to the old. But if the commerce of 
the United States was ever to be regained, he would venture to say it would 
never be brought about by means of additional duties. The embai^o and non- 
intercourse — he had almost forgotten to mention the non-importation act — had 
changed*the habits and feelings of the mercantile class in this coimtry, as fore- 
seen and predicted ; a system of smuggUng and illegal tiade, the most ruinous to 
the fair trade, the most injurio-us to the agricultural interests, and destructive to 
the revenue that could be conceived, had been organized. A man had nothing 
to do but go into the market and give a premium to have his cotton or tobacco 
placed in Liverpool or London, or to have an assorted cargo of prohibited goods 
placed in any street in Baltimore or Philadelphia. Whether these habits will 
ever be checked, it belongs not to me to predict, but they certainly never wiU 
be checked by high duties opei'ating as a premium upon smuggling. But it may 
be said, the nation is in a situation that it may be necessary to act, to do some- 
thing. I agree, sir, that it is, although I hold it not to be the least of the gratifi- 
cations of a statesman to be apprised when it is necessary not to act. A pro- 
position is now in substance, and I wish to bring it in form, submitted to this 
nation, whether they will encounter additional duties and loans, or whether 
they will make a reduction in unprofitable estabhshments. I think if I have 
not forgotten, that the secretary of the treasury, in his annual report, has stated, 
that by an adequate reduction in the army and navy, the necessitous state of the 
finances may be relieved. But perhaps, sir, it may be said, shall we, in the 
present undecided state as respects the belligerents of Europe, make any move- 
ment which shall indicate a disposition on our part to submit to those bellige- 
rents ? Certainly not. But, sir, is there any one who hears me who seriously 
thought of war ? or believed it a relation in which we could be placed .' He for 
one did not. War with whom ? war with France .' carried on where ? By us 
here and by France in old France ; for she had no possessions in our neighbor- 
hood. War- with England ? carried on where .' In the hospitals of New 
Orleans. Granting om- situation with either of the belligerents was a hostile one. 



50 BIOGRAPHYOF 

and he for one would in that case still be ready to accede to his proposition. 
He saw no use in keeping up an establishment, a costly set of tools, which we 
could not, if we knew how to use. It is possible, however, that all this time I 
may be imder a mistake. That there is a system, that there is a plan, a concert, 
and if indeed the old maxim be true, ars est celare artem, ours must be one of 
the most refined systems ; it eludes not only the sight but the touch. It would 
elude even a chemical analysis. I would wish to ask the House, after all that 
has been said or can be said on the subject, whether we must not (we may 
make as many wry faces as we please) go back to that ground, if indeed 
it be possible to regain it, which we have so childishly and wantonly abandon- 
ed ? We must. We may begin upon the system of loans and taxes, but the 
people of the United States will tell us to stop, and we must obey. Will the 
people consent to keep up an expensive mihtary and naval estabhshment, of the 
very existence of which they are ignorant until they are made acquainted with 
them by burthensome taxes .' A debt entailed upon their posterity for what ? To 
what earthly end ? If you cannot keep up your army in time of peace, I ask in 
the name of common sense, what will you do with it in time of war .' Is there a 
man who hears me who feels an atom of additional security for his person or 
his property in the army of the United States .' Has it been employed to protect 
the rights of persons and property ? Has it ever been employed but in violation 
of the rights of persons cind property .' In the violation of the writ of habeas 
corpus, and as a new modern instrument of ejectment .' Sir, go through the 
coxmtry and put to every freeholder in the land this question. Are you willing 
to pay one-third more of duty and 100 per cent, on that third upon sugar, 
coffee, &c., for the sake of the establishment of New Orleans ? We may say 
what we please, sir, but that expedition which, until now, surpassed every 
other expedition ever undertaken — the famous expedition against Flushing — 
when they had an army as well as climate to contend with — that expedition, 
which even their own ministry dare not defend, but quarrel among themselves 
who shall have the blame of it, was surpassed in disaster by the mortality at 
New Orleans of the American army. And yet, sir, for this shadow, this skele- 
ton — it is indeed a skeleton of an army — the people of the United States are to 
submit to loans and taxes. With respect to the navy, I say nothing of that. 
Its exploits are already registered upon our journals, and the fact of the frigate 
Philadelphia having run agroimd on the tail of the Horse- Shoe, is the only one 
in our naval annals for several years past. With respect to the war, we have^ 
thank God, in the Atlantic, a fosse, wide and deep enough to keep ofT any im- 
mediate danger to our territory. The belligerents of Europe know, as well as 
we feel, that war is out of the question. No, sir. If your preparations were 
for battle, the state physicians have mistaken the case of the patient. We have 
been embargoed and non-intercoursed almost into a consumption ; and this is not 
the time for battle. If indeed the State was about to undergo inoculation for the 
small-pox, this reduction would have been according to the best medical authori- 
ty. He would therefore submit to the House, under these views — the best he 
had been enabled to take — two distinct propositions, in a single resolution, in 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 51 

order that the House and the people of the United States might determine 
■whether they would submit to encounter the European system of loans and 
taxes, or whether they would reduce establishments, which to say the best of 
them that could be said, were mere incumbrances. It was, he thought, about 
nine years since he had made a similar motion in this House, which was the 
precursor of the abolition of the internal taxes. He hoped the motion he was 
about to make would be the harbinger of protection against the system intro- 
duced into the House yesterday, that at least if it was not made the means of 
taking off taxation, it might provide an antidote against it. He then moved 
" that the military and naval establishments ought to be reduced." Not that he 
was at all opposed to the reduction in any other article of expense. He 
believed that many other and important reductions might be made in the 
expenses of the government. The spirit of reform had long slept in this House. 
He would go as far as any man in retrenching expenses ; but he confessed his 
object now was to take the bull by the horns. He considered these two objects 
to be the great drains and sinks of the public treasure. " I do not profess a better 
acquaintance with the public sentiment than others, but I believe, if you were to 
propoimd the question to every man in the United States capable of judging, that 
not merely i& but -^^^ of them, (always excepting those who draw 
emoluments from these e.stablishments, and their immediate connexions, whether 
in this House or out of it, the good honest yeomanry of the United States, who 
never saw these things, whose only proof of their existence is in the money they 
call for), would say in God's name let us have hone of them. If we are to have 
war, we know that we, the people of the United States, and not the invalids of 
the hospitals of the Mississippi, mu.st fight the battles." 

The House agreed to consider the resolution ; and the question being staged 
on its passage, Mr. Eppes " presumed the gentleman did not ask of the House to 
decide the question at a moment's warning. He had no objection to refer the 
resolution to a committee of the whole House, and discuss it. If gentlemen on 
this floor, who voted in 1807 for an increase in the army and naval establish- 
ments, can find irt the present position of affairs a sufficient ground to reduce 
them, and at the present moment, when perhaps the first gale may bring the 
news which may enable us to reduce them with honor ; — if it is the intention 
of gentlemen thus to stamp themselves with folly in having originally increased 
them, I cannot coincide with them." Mr. Eppes made further objections, and 
among others, " that there was a bill before the House to increase the duties. 
It is reported in blank, and the rates will be fixed at the pleasure of the Hou.se. 
It is reported on the principle, which is fair, that they who incur the debt 
should pay. The deficit in the revenue should be supplied by those who in- 
curred the expense that caused it. It is perfectly consistent for the gentleman 
from Virginia to vote for the repeal of the non-intercourse, because he voted 
against it when it passed. It is perfectly consistent in him to reprobate every 
measure taken for four or five years past, because he did so at the time. Dur- 
ing the year 1809 our revenue was about ten millions ; during this, it will pro- 
bably be about eight. The reduction of the army will not do away the neces- 



62 B r G R A P H Y F 

sity of additional revenue, because our exports are so much reduced that we 
cannot avoid this year, and perhaps some years to come, increasing the duties." 

]\lr. Randolph said, " he had no idea of provoking the discussion which had 
commenced. He was willing to submit his proposition to the same committee 
which had under consideration the gentleman's proposition for raising additional 
revenue, and let gentlemen take their choice. If Congress did mean to lay ad- 
ditional duties, it would be necessary to keep them on not only this year, but 
many more. He had not expected from the gentleman from Virginia, who is at 
the head of the Committee on Finance, such an opinion on the subject of indi- 
rect taxation as was to be gathered from his observations. What would be the 
effect of laying adchtional duties for one or two years .' The effect would be, 
that the articles on which the duty was laid Avould not be imported, because 
they would have to compete in the market with those already imported at a 
less duty, and, moreover, would have to contend against the well grounded ex- 
pectation that in a short time the duty would be taken off; so that, instead of 
getting revenue, you diminish it by addttional duties, because the very articles 
which are to produce the revenue will cease to be imported. There is no 
clearer question in finance, or even in arithmetic, than this. His colleague had 
said, that the revenue having diminished, heavier duties must be imposed on 
certain articles. Why ? Because the articles, forsooth, are imported imder a 
disadvantage, owing to the increase of our domestic manufactures. If so, if, in 
order to get revenue, higher duties were to be laid on imported articles, not able 
to contend in the market under only the present duties, it was altogether a 
new plan to him. It must be of the new school of finance. It was altogether 
incomprehensible. With respect to the principle, that those who incur debts 
should pay them, he agreed with his colleague; and although he was not one 
of those who incurred the debt, he was willing to pay it. They would un- 
questionably, by this system of duties, destroy what revenue was left, arising 
from duties on imports and tonnage. He rather suspected his colleague had 
fallen into a small mistake when he spoke of ad valorem duties on goods im- 
ported. He ought to have said on articles dutied ; for, imder the present regime, 
they did not amount precisely to the same thing ; and if we got back, which 
we did not know to be practicable, to the old system, we should find an 
increase of revenue, notwithstanding the rivalry of our own manufactures. 

" One word more and I have done, at least for the day. One of the ob- 
jects which induced me to submit the motion which is before you, and one 
which ought to weigh in its favor, is this, that this planting our soldiers in a 
swamp, like so much rice, which my colleague wishes to see brought to light, 
and in which I concur, has had one effect ; it has given the coup dc grace to the 
recruiting service, which never was a very flourishing branch of our home ma- 
nufacture of a standing army. If it be true, as alleged, that dead men tell no 
tales, it is also true that they can draw no rations. But I can demonstrate, how- 
ever true in common sense, that it is not true in the tieasury ; for there never 
has been an instance of one dollar refunded in the army or navy for persons 
not in place, although the estimate is always made on the calculation that the 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 53 

^complement of men is complete and full. The gentleman is mistaken. I have 
not reprobated every measure for four or five years past. I had the honor of 
proposing a measure, — that of arming the militia, — which was adopted, with 
what grace I will not say, the contract bill, and the alteration in the articles and 
rules of war."- 

We have thus given these speeches of an early period, wheii Mr. Randolph's 
faculties were sound and strong, and while his judgment and experience were 
ripe, his imagination in full bloom. It will be seen by these examples, not 
particularly selected for their excellence, that he could confine himself to the 
questions under debate ; a trait which he lost at a much later period, while he 
was in the Senate, as will appear on perusing his speech on the Panama reso- 
lution; and would also on that of the judiciary bill, had we inserted it. In 
the debate which arose between him and Mr. Montgomery, and which we shall 
give presently, on his motion to repeal the non-importation act, we enjoy Mr 
Randolph's happiest vein. His irony and raillery are inimitable. He, how- 
ever, maintained an imperturbable countenance of gravity throughout ; and al- 
though it was enough to provoke him to have such a presumptuous amendinent 
offered to his resolution, by a young member of little experience and conse- 
quence in the House, yet he maintained his temper, and was so artful in his 
address, that many members could not perceive any just reason for Mr. Mont- 
gomery to get angry, by inferring that Mr. Randolph's remarks concealed or 
conveyed a sarcasm against himself. 

Mr. Randolph's resolution for reducing the army and navy was referred to 
the Committee of the Whole, to which was referred the bill for imposing addi- 
tional duties. The question was afterwards divided. That under the head of 
the army was sent to some committee, but no reduction was agreed upon at that 
session. That in reference to the navy was sent to a select committee, of which 
Mr. Randolph was chairman. He reported a bill soon afterwards, recommend- 
ing a reduction of the navy, vsdth the exception of three frigates and three sloops 
of war, and that the gun-boats and other small vessels should be sold, except 
their guns. He supported the bill in a speech of two hours' duration. The 
hill encountered strong opposition. The friends of the navy rallied in its favor, 
and to their resolute succor that arm of our national defence is indebted for its 
salvation, and the opportunity it soon afterwards acquired of repaying its friends 
with a full meed of glory and fame for then- discernment, patriotism, and fore- 
thought, while it fought itself into universal favor. 

On the 31st of March, 1810, Mr. Randolph moved the following resolu- 
tion : 

" Resolved, That the act interdictmg commercial intercourse ought to be re - 
pealed." 

Mr. Mon^omery, of Maryland, offered an amendment, " that provision 
ought to be made by law for maintaining the rights, honor and independence of 
the United States against the edicts of France and England." A motion was 
made to postpone the resolution. Mr. Randolph opposed it, and also the 
amendment. He said he considered the amendment a substitute for his resolu ■ 
6 



54 BIOGRAPHYOF 

tion, and therefore not strictly in order. While his proposition was simple 
in its object and definite in its terms, this amendment dealt only in pompous and 
lofty generalities. 

The Speaker observed that the House had not agreed to consider the amend- 
ment. "If the Speaker," continued Mr. R.,"will give himself the trouble to 
attend for a few moments, he will see that the whole bearing of my observations 
will go to show the impropriety of postponing my motion, since it involves the 
very serious inconvenience and disadvantage of postponing also the weighty 
amendment of the gentleman from Maryland. I am willing to admit that my 
proposition is one of that unimportant description, which may, without any 
serious national injury, be indefinitely postponed ; but I pray the House not to 
lose by such a measure, the precious project of the gentleman from Maryland, 
who is, no doubt, ready to submit it to a committee for asserting the rights, the 
honor and independence of the nation, against the two great belligerents of Europe. 
It would be matter of sei'ious national calamity, if, after being near live months 
in session, after sanctioning a proposition in substance little differing from this 
of the gentleman, when no substitute has been hatched tmder the wings of the 
different committees — it would be a serious national loss, if this vast project, 
vast it must be, being circumscribed by no limits (the indefinite is a principal 
ingredient of the sublime) — if this vast project, now ready for delivery", should 
perish in this unfortunate way."' The Speaker, Mr. Vamum, observed, that 
the question was to postpone till to-morrow, and not indefinitely. Mr. R. 
said, he had misapprehended the question, and wished the Speaker had cor- 
rected him sooner. " I hope, however, that the House will not agree to post- 
pone this question even till to-morrow. I hope if the amendment of the 
gentleman from Marj-land is to prevail, — and really, sir, I have a sort of longing 
to see what he is about to bring forth, if it prevail, — I hope we shall be speedily 
favored with the system he has devised for maintaining ' the rights, the honor, 
and the independence' of the nation against all assailants. At this late day it 
would be unfortunate indeed if the only project which there is the least chance 
of bringing to light should be smothered. The time is growing short. None 
.seem to think we shall sit longer than May. How does the gentleman who 
made this motion know, but, that in my anxiety to get a glimpse of the project 
I shall agree to incorporate his amendment with my resolution and let the subject 
go to two different committees ? I trust that the gentleman from Maryland will 
be at the head of one of the committees, on which I certainly have no desire to be 
placed ; and should I be placed on the other, we shall each be acting in our 
respective provinces. I in mine, desiring to get at a specified object and in the 
most direct way ; and he in his, supporting, Atlas-like, upon his shoulders the 
vast interests of the State." Mr. Montgomery said in reply, " that he moved 
the amendment with a view of the gentleman from Virginia being chairman of the 
committee to whom the whole subject would be referred, and that the talents 
which have been of so great a benefit to the nation for two or three years past, 
might be again exerted, and something devised by way of resistance to the 
decrees of France and Great Britain. That the gentleman might again have an 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 55 

opportunity of astonishing the nation with the magnitude of his project. With 
respect to the sarcasm against the generahty of my proposition, I disregard it. 
I acted from a sense of duty in proposing it, and shall continue to do so, regard- 
less of the gentleman's sarcasms. If the resolution be committed, and I a 
member of the committee, I will exert my little talent to devise some means of 
re.sistance. I do not say that I am competent to the task ; it is for the gentleman 
himself, with his vastly sei-viceable talents and extraordinary imagination, to 
devise some strong, energetic measure. I have not moved the amendment with 
the view of becoming the Atlas of our political world. I am no competitor of 
the gentleman ; I am not to be driven out of my course ; and if the gentleman 
expects to brow-beat me on this, or any other occasion, he will find that he has 
Igjstaken his man." Mr. Rhea, of Tennessee, expressed a wish, that if gentle- 
men were about to bring forth vast and grand projects, they would wait till the 
post-road bill should enable them to transmit them with more facility through 
the country. 

After some remarks from Mr. Dana, about a trilateral, triangular, prismatic 
war, which had been recommended by a committee at the second Session of the 
tenth Congress, Mr. Randolph again took the floor. He said, " it was not at all 
surprising that any man who could once bring his mind to believe that the non- 
intercourse, as it was called and now practised, agreeably to the representa- 
tion of the Secretary of the Treasury, now on your table, was resistance to the 
two great belligerents, could also believe that the rapeal of the non-intercourse 
laws would be resistance to them. But what, in fact, is the nature of the pro- 
position which it is moved to perform .' It is proposed by me to do that imme- 
diately and beneficially for ourselves and for the public, openly, in a manly and 
direct way, which every one sees will be done in an indirect one, when Con- 
gress adjourns. And if it be more resistance to the belhgerents to adjourn and 
sneak out of this non-intercourse, than to repeal it, be it so ; but in the merit of 
that sort of resistance I am determined not to participate. With respect to any 
project Avhich one so little acquainted with the course of public affairs as myself 
the present winter, might be supposed capable of bringing forward, in order to 
maintain our maritime rights against the European powers, I hope I may be 
permitted to observe, without any intentional disrespect to the Executive, that 
when he shaU have done that which (I do not say he has not) the Constitution 
prescribes to him as an imperious duty, I shall do mine. And surely it is a suf- 
ficient stretch of presumption in me to propose to do away thatAvhich is allowed 
to be mischievous in its operation, instead of attempting to build up with mate- 
rials utterly unfit for service, and on grounds with which, on account of my 
absence during the present Session, I may be presumed to be less acquainted 
than other members. When the President .shall have done that which the Con- 
stitution prescribes as his duty, it will be time enough for me to do mine. The 
Constitution after having, in a preceding section, given to the President of the 
United States certain powers, in the execution of which we are to presume he 
is to be governed by a sound discretion, goes on to use this very strong and im- 
pressive language : 'He shall from time to time give to Congress information 



56 



BIOGRAPHY OF 



of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures 
as he shall judge necessary and expedient.' * * * If he on whom (do what 
you will) the execution of those measures must ultimately rest, has recom- 
mended no measures as necessary and expedient, it hardl)^ behoves (I will not say 
a member of this House, but) me to ' step in where angels fear to tread ;' and. 
antil the President of the United States shall disclose his plan of operations to 
this House ; until the efficient prime minister of this country, who has an almost 
omnipotent control over our foreign affairs, and nearly as great over our domes- 
tic," (how applicable to the present time !) " shall disclose his sentiments, it is idle 
and ridiculous for members of this House to be popping up in their seats, as the 
shredsand patchesand disjointed members of a syslem that can never make a whole 
one. System supposes connection and sympathy of parts, and after giving as much 
credit as you please to the independence of the two Houses of Congress, I speak 
now of no undue influence, but of fair constitutional influence and duty too, the mem- 
bers of this House cannot make a system of foreign policy which shall seem good 
in the eyes of the President, and which he can exercise beneiicially to the State, 
xmless he be consulted in some way directly or indirectly as to the nature and 
extent of that system. It becomes a question whether the direct influence of 
the President shall not supersede one of a worse kind, if such there be. The 
President has a great duty to perform. I conclude that he is unable to devise 
any system that he thinks now necessary, or he would have before now sub- 
mitted it. There is, then, no system. Far be it from me to attempt to make 
one, especially out of such discordant materials." * * * * 

On the 11th of April, 1810, Mr. Randolph mtroduced a resolution, " That 
the members of this House go into mourning, by wearing crape on their left 
arms, as a token of respect for the memoiy of Lieut. Col. William Washington 
of the army of the Revolution." 

Tlie resolution was opposed by Mr. Smilie, of Pennsylvania, on the ground 
that no such respect had been shown to the memory of Generals Greene, Wayne, 
De Kalb, and others. Mr. Randolph said, it was far from his intention to lessen, 
by any amplification of his, the impression of that merit which the bare mention 
of the name of Gen. William Washington was calculated to make on the mind of 
every man who heard him : — " It is not the least rmequivocal proof of that 
worth, that it was not extinguished by the efTulgence of his great Idnsman's 
glory, with Avhich it was brought daily into comparison. The reputation which 
can stand such an ordeal as this, is beyond the praise or blame of an humble 
i-'dividual like me. If to the proposition an objection should be raised on the 
SCO re of the rank which that officer bore in the late American army, permit me 
to suggest that it is a testimony to valor, not rank. It is not in rank to add to 
the infamy of an Arnold, or the glory of a Washington." The resolution was 
lost. Afterwards, in order that by the rejection of the resolution, it might not 
he inferred that the House intended any disrespect, or an intention to wound the 
feelings of the surviving relatives of the deceased, the House passed a resolution 
deprecating any such intention. Among some additional remarks of Mr. Ran- 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 57 

dolph, on the occasion, he compared Col. Washington to the sword of Marcel- 
lus, and Gen. Washington to the shield of Fabiiis. 

In the session of 1811, Mr. Randolph did not appear in his seat till the 23d of 
Januar)'- . The Hoiise had then before it a bill to re-charter the Bank of the United 
States, which had undergone considerable discussion. With a view of bringing 
the debate to a close, the House had agi-eed to hold a night session. Several 
motions had been made to adjourn, without effect. Mr. Randolph then repeated 
the motion, giving as a reason that he was fatigued after his long journey, and 
felt himself unfitted to go through a night's sitting, and the House adjourned. 
The bill, however, was indefinitely postponed the next day by a vote of 65 to 64, 
Mr. Randolph voting agamst the postponement. 

February 2d, 1811, the non -intercourse law was to go into operation. A 
bill w^as before the House concerning commercial intercourse, being a supplement- 
ary act ; hkevdse a bill to admit to entry all vessels arriving from Great Britain 
after the 2d of February. As Mr. Randolph, the year before, had moved to 
repeal the non-importation act, so he now moved that the Committee on Foreign 
Relations be instructed to bring in a bill to repeal the act respecting commercial 
intercourse between the United States, Great Britain, and France. He was 
opposed by his old antagonist, Mr. Eppes. Mr. Randolph had offered some 
prefatory remarks in support of his motion, and in answer to Mr. Eppes, he 
observed, " It would give him pleasure to comply with the request of his col- 
league, to offer his resolution separately, and not as an amendment to Mr. 
Eppes' motion to refer the bill back to the Committee of Foreign Relations, were 
it not this non-importation law went into operation this day. The truth was, 
if there were to be any operation at all in point of fact ; if the medicines were to 
work ; if it were to have any practical effect, he would let it pass. But although, 
in point of fact, it would do the belligerents no harm, and unquestionably do us 
no good, it would be made an engine for sinking the .value of the property of 
his constituents. He was opposed to this sort of legislative quackery. It im- 
paired our own constitution to the injuring our health, without aflfecting our 
enemies. He thought the gentleman had stated there had been no case in which 
the Berlin and Milan decrees had applied to our property since the 1st of 
November. In the name of common sense, of what consequence is it to us, if 
we are plundered and robbed, whether it be under one decree or another? Will 
the gentleman say that there is no case in which our property has been robbed, 
and the proceeds put into the French treasury .' It is of no matter or conse- 
quence to us whether we are murdered and robbed on the high way, or the rights 
of hospitahty be disregarded, and we murdered in our beds, under the protection 
of the law. As relates to us the question is altogether immaterial. ; There is a 
deeper dye of depravity in one case than in the other, as relates to the offender ; 
not a shade of difference as relates to the offended. If seems, sir, that we attend 
of late so much to mode, that if we were not robbed and plundered after this 
particular manner, we may be robbed and plundered to our heart's content after 
another fashion. The question with us is whether we are robbed and plun- 
dered. It may be matter at Paris whether there is so much in the mode, but as 
6* 



58 B I G R A P H Y F 

to US old-fashioned people, it is no matter, so as we lose our money, how it is 
taken. * * * His colleague had justified the seizure of our property in French 
ports as a retaliation for the alleged seizure of French property in our ports, 
which he allowed not to have taken place. Was it of any consequence to the 
people of the United States, if they were plundered under false and stale pre- 
tences, what those pretences were } One word on the subject of the faith said 
to have been pledged by the Act of May last. It cannot have been so pledged. 
Pledged to whom ? to Great Britain .' Unquestionably not. To France ? 
Unquestionably not. What is our law ? A rule of action to whom ? For 
ourselves. We have been aggrieved by the two great belligerents of Europe : 
we pass a law for the regulation of our own conduct, the operation of which is 
to depend upon certain contingencies. Is that a pledge of faith to either of these 
parties .' Unquestionably not. But this it does not become me to prove. It 
behoves my colleague to show how it is a pledge of our faith. With regard to 
the anxiety of the President to maintain peace, he presumed there could be no 
doubt about it. He never doubted it. He submitted to the House whether the 
late occurrences did not aflx)rd an opportunity of getting rid of this Avretched 
system of lame expedients, in which they have embarked since the abandonment 
of the embargo. It might be said that in a short time news might be received of 
the repeal of the Orders in Council, which would, in the opinion of some, render 
this motion unnecessary. The law is a rule of conduct for us, and no foreign 
nation has a right to know of its existence ; and if news of the rescinding of the 
Orders in Council were to arrive this day, he should still be clearly of opinion 
that they ought to repeal this law. He looked upon the law as being mischiev- 
ous ; as having no operation on the Orders in Council and Bonaparte's decrees. 
If it had none, why retain it? Why keep it up here as a germ of difficulty ? 
Let us have clear stays ! Let us have a tabula rasa, and if we must fight, let us 
fight without parchment chains about our hands." 

These speeches afford examples of beautiful declamation, and although they 
are not deep, profound, and statesmanlike, yet they are much more tolerable, 
pleasant and digestible, than many long, elaborate, documentary ones, delivered 
on these occasions, fertile, if in nothing else, in the generation of these mon- 
strous and overgrown productions of the brain, which were mostly still-born in 
the labor-pains of parturition. To observe the anxiety and restlessness of 
members to get the floor, and catch the eye of the Speaker, in which struggle 
there would frequently be half-a-dozen up at a time, while some were in labor 
of their speeches, and others just beginning to conceive, was a most ludicrous 
scene. Mr. Randolph never entered into a contest of that sort, but if he saw an 
eagerness in members to give their views, he generally waited till the last one 
had concluded, and the question was ordered to be put. In the remarks of liis, on 
his motion to reduce the army and repeal the non-importation act, we see that 
he is keenly sensitive on the subject of the monstrous wi-ongs inflicted on us by 
the hostile governments of Great Britain and France. He opposes these weak 
measures of non-intercourse and restrictions as totally inefficient, and unworthy 
the character of a proud and free people, and yet, strange as it may appear, when 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 59 

war was proposed, he opposed that too with all his might. And at the conclu- 
sion of a long speech against the measure, he affected to be driven to tears, that 
two such enlightened and kindred nations, that equally worshipped the only 
true and living God, should imbrue their hands in each other's blood. 

We may mention here, that the House having determined to come to a final 
decision, after a long discussion of the bill in relation to our foreign intercourse, 
had decided to hold an evening session on the 27th of February. They had 
hardly met, however, for that purpose, before Mr. Randolph entered, and imme- 
diately moved to postpone the bill till the morrow, alleging, as an excuse, that 
he was not prepared to vote, and was too much fatigued to sit it out. The 
Intelhgencer states that much irritation was caused by the motion between him 
and Mr. Eppes, but does not give the particulars. It is probable that it was on 
this occasion that on Mr. Randolph charging Mr. Eppes with saying what was 
not true, in imputing to him as a motive that led him to make the motion, a wish 
to delay, embarrass, and finally defeat the bill, that the challenge passed from 
Mr. Eppes, mentioned some time before. Mr. Cheeves, of S. C, endeavored to 
make peace between them, and though a friend to both, said he felt obliged to 
rise (the first time in his life for such a purpose), to call the gentleman from Vir- 
ginia, Mr. Randolph, to order. Mr. R. in reply, said he appreciated his motives, 
but could not find any other words than those he had used, that the gentleman 
from Virginia, Mr. E., had said that which was not true. Could he (said he) 
dive into his bosom and there discover the motives which actuated him ? He 
must therefore repeat the words. I am afraid Mr. Randolph's temper was ex- 
exasperated that night, and his irritability increased by another cause, besides the 
insufficient one furnished by Mr. Eppes' remarks. 

On the 4th of Novem.ber, 1811, Congress was convened in pursuance of a 
proclamation of the President. Mr. Clay was chosen Speaker, although he had 
for the first time appeared as a member in the House. When the message and 
accompanying documents were proposed to he referred to different standing and 
select committees, which is called dissecting the message, Mr. Randolph 
opposed it, on the ground that members would then have no opportunity of dis- 
cussing its merits, or giving their opinions on the policy of the measures recom- 
mended by the President. He wanted more time for that purpose, and moved 
the committee to rise and report progress. The motion was opposed by Mr. 
Smilie and Mr. Findlay of Pennsylvania, on the ground of the delay it would 
occasion, and that every opportiniity would be afforded, to the gentleman from 
Virginia to discuss the propriety and the policy of the different measures recom- 
mended by the executive, when the committees made their reports. Mr. Ran- 
dolph said, " He was not ready for the question. The memory of the worthy 
gentleman from Pennsylvania was not very good. It is not to be wondered at. 
Age brings its experience, and many valuable quahties, but it does not improve 
the memory. He himself felt the eflTects of it, and much more might the gentle- 
man from Pennsylvania. He did not believe that the course now proposed to be 
taken with the message was the same that had always been pursued. He recol- 
lected that when he first had the honor of a seat in the House, the message of the 



60 BIOGRAPHYOF 

President was brought in a mass before the House to be fully and fairly debated. 
He would ask the gentleman from Pennsylvania by what magic or other power 
he has been able to dive into his bosom to know that he meant to make strictures 
on the message ? The gentleman goes on to state that if I have any such obser- 
vations to make, this is the accepted hour. Why this ? Why more than any 
other hour this week ? Why do gentlemen, just when we have got into a commit- 
tee on the message, show such an aguish trepidation to get out of it ? Is the mes- 
sage of so little importance that they will not give it attention ? They will not 
say so. The gentleman from Pennsylvania says, that when these committees 
report, every gentleman will have an opportunity of expressing his opinions on 
the several parts into which it will be dissected. But the gentleman must 
know, that even in physics, much less in pohtics, all the parts are not always 
equal to the whole. That, however true it may be in mathematics, that all the 
parts are equal to the whole, it is not so in politics. Suppose one of these com- 
mittees report, and the report comes under consideration, memb,ers would be 
excluded from touching upon other portions of the message. If this course be 
pursued, I give you warning (said he), that if some gentleman of this House, 
who has not signed the 39 Articles, shall rise to make his observations, and 
shall notice any part of the message not before the House, he will be called to 
order, and informed that that part of the message is yet sleeping with a select 
committee. But the gentleman asks, why not now go mto the discussion ? — 
when it is known the documents are with the printer, and not within reach of 
the House. The true course is the one which I have suggested, a course which 
will be acceptable to the nation. Why (said he) send out such reams of the 
National Intelligencer by mail but to inform the people ? If no discussion is to 
take place on the message, through what channel are these committees to receive 
the opinion of this House .' Are they to go to work blindfolded .' On Spanish 
relations, for instance, what member possesses the faculty of looking into the 
heart, and of saying, what is the opinion of the House on that subject ? Would 
it not be better (said he) to come to some resolution which should be directory to 
these committees ? To act otherwise, was putting the cart before the horse. 
This course would avoid commitments and recommitments ;— he hoped, therefore, 
the committee would rise and report progress." 

The motion after debate, and further remarks by Mr. Randolph, was modified 
by his accepting the amendment oflered by Mr. Macon, his friend, to let the sub- 
ject he on the table tiU to-morrow. But the House refused the motion. He ob- 
served, among other things, that he wished to say one word in reply to a remark 
of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, which at the time he believed out of order. 
He had said, " if gentlemen can justify themselves in protracting the public 
business — well. He had no other views than the interests of his constituents." 
An insinuation that other gentlemen have other views, and that other gentlemen 
can justify themselves for protracting public business. Mr. R. " made no pro- 
fession of patriotism in that House. His property was in terra firma, and he 
was born in the State which he represented, and he loved it the better for it.* 
* Mr. Smilie was poor, and was born in Ireland. 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 61 

As to protracting the public business, we all know how it is protracted ; as his 
friend from North Carolina had said the other day, the public business will not 
be done till the roads are good in the spring. He hoped, however, that while 
the gentleman from Pennsylvania is satisfied with his OM'n motives, he wiU 
allow other gentlemen to have as clear consciences as himself." 

On the 21st of November, 1811, the Speaker, Mr. Clay, communicated to the 
House, a petition from Matthew Lyon, of Kentucky (formerly of Vermont), 
•stating that he had been prosecuted and convicted under the sedition law, and 
that one part of his punishment had been a heavy fine (#1000), which he prays 
may be refunded. One member moved it be referred to the committee of claims, 
while others preferred a select committee. 

Mr. Randolph said he had no doubt it would be recollected that, at the first 
session of Congress under the administration of the present President, the session 
of May, 1809, a committee was raised to inqiure whether any and what prose- 
cutions had been instituted before the Courts of Common Law, and to report such 
provisions as in their opinion may be necessary for securing the freedom of 
speech and of the press. Congress adjourned, after a short session, in June. 
The chairman of that committee was directed to address letters to the clerks of 
the several courts in which such proceedings had commenced. These answers, 
received in the recess (all except one, which the chairman had found among 
his private papers during the present session), were transmitted to the clerk of 
this House, in whose possession it is presumed they now are. The chairman of 
that committee, at the two succeeding sessions, by the visitation of God, and 
from circumstances beyond his control, for the first time since he had the honor 
of a seat on this floor, was prevented from attending his duty till the session 
had considerably advanced, otherwise he would have felt it obligatory on him to 
have called the attention of Congress to this subject. It was his intention, at 
the present session, without knovdng anything about this petition, to have 
called the attention of the House, among other things, to it, at an early day. 
He thought it behoved this House, as the guardian of the pubhc purse and pub- 
lic weal, to take care that the stream of public justice be preserved pure and free 
from pollution : and Avhether persons have suffered by prosecutions under the 
Sedition Law, or under the Common Law of England, as modified by the laws 
of the United States, in their corporate capacity, he was for affording them rehef. 
He wished to see if any of our citizens had received injury from prosecutions of 
this kind ; and, if they had, to redress the wrong by such a prospective measure 
as would prevent the occurrence of similar mischief. It seems idle, said Mr. R., 
for any man to undertake, by statute, to do that which the great charter of our 
confederation has endeavored to do in vain. It is, it appears, impossible to 
prevent men, heated by party and seeking only the gratification of their own pas- 
sions, from trampling in the dust the charter which we have sworn to support. 
For, though our Constitution has said, in the broadest terms which our language 
knows, that the freedom of speech and of the press should not be abridged, men 
have been found, so lost to all sense of their coimtry's good, as to pass the act 
commonly called the Sedition Act, and to send out our judges to dispense, not 



62 BIOGRAPHYOF 

law, but politics from the bench. It would seem idle to attempt to prevent, by 
statutory provisions, similar abuses. But though, formed as we are, we cannot 
attain perfection, we ought, in imitation of a divine example, to aspire to it, and 
endeavor to preserve, in purity, the great Magna Charta of our country. The 
subject might appear frivolous to others. Mankind has very little improved 
since this truth was promulgated. He knew that men, intent on worldly 
things, with their snouts grovelling in the mud, who hold everything but sordid 
pelf, and still more disgraceful office, as dross and dust, would not think it worth 
while to attend to things of this kind. Nor did he wish to set himself up for a 
political Pharisee, and thank God that he was not as other men. He then moved 
to amend the reference by adding to it, " With instmctions to inquire what pro- 
secutions have been instituted before the courts of the United States for libels 
under the Sedition Law, or Common Law, and by what authority ; and to make 
such provision as they may deem necessary for securing the freedom of speech 
and of the press." He hoped this amendment would be agreed to. It is evident, 
when we came into power, when we succeeded to our predecessors, proper mea- 
sures were not taken for purifying the violent temper of the day, for preventing 
the recurrence of prosecutions of this kind. He recollected having heard, at the 
close of the administration of the second President of the United States, one of 
the most beautiful pieces of declamation, from a gentleman from South Carolina, 
which he had ever heard, in which he conjured the House to re-enact the Sedi- 
tion Law, because, said he, we are about to surrender the government into the 
hands of men in whom we have no confidencp, and I wish to retain this law 
as our shelter, because, by this, if we are prosecuted for a libel, we can give the 
truth in evidence. He said he did not believe the gentleman believed a word of 
what he said. He did not suppose that a prosecution for a libel under the Com- 
mon Law, could take place under a republican administration. He thought the 
gentleman was making the best apology he could for the Sedition Law, and that 
he was glad to find himself in a minority on his motion for continuing it. But, 
said he, experience teacheth. I find it possible even for the Pharisees themselves 
sometimes to slide — sometimes to fall. He thought it due to our country and to 
ourselves, that, whatever abuse existed, without stopping to inquire whether the 
sufferer was a Catholic or a Protestant, a Federalist, a Democrat, or a Monarch- 
ist, to redress the wrong. What would be said in a court of justice, in a case 
of mui'der ? It would not be thought worth while to inquire what was the 
offender's politics, or whether honest or the contrary. He considered honest 
men as of right politics. It unfortunately happens, said he, that some men 
make up in zeal what they know themselves to be wanting in honor and 
honesty. The amendment was agreed to, and the petition referred. A bill was 
reported favorable to the petitioner. It met with much opposition, and did not 
pass ; and, although similar ones have been frequently introduced since, I am 
not sure that that measure of redress has yet been offered to the sufferer or his 
representative. 

Mr. Randolph had also given offence to his talented colleague, Philip P. 
Barbour, by a reply to some remarks of his against the position assumed by 
Mr. Randolph in some important debate. It happened that two other members 



JOHNRANDOLPH. 63 

of diminutive stature, as well as Mr. Barbour, had joined with him in this at- 
tack on Mr. Randolph. When he got up to notice them in his rejoinder, he 
used the quotation from Lear, " The little dogs and ail, Blanch, Tray, and 
Sweetheart, see, they bark at me," and pointed with his finger to each of the 
guilty members as he repeated the words. This called up Mr. Barbour, who 
demanded, in a passionate tone, whether he alluded to him by his expression of 
little dog. Mr. R., in explanation, deprecated any wish or intention of wound- 
ing the feelings or of having any dispute with his colleague, and there the mat- 
ter ended. During one of our night sittuigs, of which we had many, Mr. Ran- 
dolph moved the House to adjourn. It was late, much confusion prevailed, and 
while he was making some observations in support of his motion, one of his 
colleagues entered, and before lie reached his seat, staggered about over the 
chairs and desks, in a state far short of sobriety. A member got up and begged 
Mr. R. to speak a little loudei', as he could not understand what he said. Mr. 
R., looking at his colleague, as he reclined with his head on his desk, observed 
that he should be glad if the gentleman was the only one present to whom his 
remarks were unintelhgible. Many of the members were worn out, and from 
having had a sleepy dose administered to them by the long-winded harangues 
of some of the opposition (one of whom had bored the House with a speech of 
three hours' duration), were overtaken with sleep. Mr. Randolph' asked 
"What was the use of sitting here .' The House is far from being wide awake to 
the important question before it." And leaving his place, went about among the 
dozing members, saying, here is one fast asleep ! and shaking him, told him he 
had better be at home in bed. From him he proceeded to the rest in succession, 
till he had effectually aroused them and brought them to a rather shameful con- 
sciousness of their awkward situation, to the no small amusement of the 
rest. 

In January, 1816, considerable discussion took place in both Houses, on the 
bill for carrying into effect the convention of conunerce between Great Britain 
and the United States, entered into the 3d of July the year before, between 
Messrs. Gallatin, Clay, and J. Q. Adams >vith Messrs. Goulburn, Robinson, 
and WiUiam Adams, on the part of Great Britain. The debate principally 
turned, not so much upon the treaty, but the necessity of the passage of a law 
to carry it into effect, and also to modify or repeal some of the acts la>Tng dis- 
criminating duties on goods imported from Great Britain. On the 25th of Janu- 
ary, Mr. R. addressed the House the second time on the subject. When he 
took his seat yesterday, said he, " he had considered the bill then and now un- 
der discussion, as one of perhaps as trivial a nature as ever engaged the atten- 
tion of this House, or of any legislative body. But of this bill, it might be 
said, vires acquirit eundo, and of this, perhaps, he was about to afford the House 
some proof, by adding his httle rill to swell the torrent of debate to which the 
bill had given rise. He had no intention to utter one word on the subject till he 
had heard doctrines against which he felt himself bound to enter his solemn 
protest. He might say of this bill, as of some diseases, the danger arose from 
the mode of treatment ; in the doctor, not in the disease. He hoped the gentle- 



64 EIOGRAPHYOF 

man from South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun) would pardon him. He had heard 
doctrines from him to-day, against which he felt it his duty to protest. * * * 
If he understood the gentleman, he had declared that a treaty, being in the na- 
ture of a compact, touching the interests of other nations than our own, it 
therefore followed that the treaty-making power, so long as it coniined itself to 
its own sphere, that of contract, so long as it received equivalents for what it 
gave, whether real or nominal, according to the gentleman's doctrine, no matter, 
they are not to he ripped up, not to he examined. That inasmuch as the inte- 
rests of two nations instead of one are concerned in all treaties, therefore the 
treaty-making power is paramount to the legislative power. * * * That 
treaties, being paramount, repealed the laws of the land, so far as they came in 
collision with any article of a treaty which was confined to the legitimate ob- 
jects of a treaty, viz. to contracts with another nation. But the gentleman from 
South Carolina had, with peculiar infelicity of illusti'ation, drawn examples 
from despotic governments. Would a treaty made by the Sultan of Constanti- 
nople, or the Emperor of France, go to repeal a law of Turkey or France ? 
Certainly it would. For what are the laws of a despotic government but the 
breath of the sovereign, call him what you will .' And was that an analogy on 
which to found a construction of our constitution, on which the gentleman had 
bestowed so high but not undeserved an eulogium .' No. It was because a 
treaty made by a despotic power will repeal the law of the land there, that a 
treaty made by presidential authority will not repeal a law of the land here. To 
come to the gentleman's experimenta crucis, and try the strength of his argu- 
ment, that a treaty is paramount to the law of the land. Suppose the treaty of 
peace had contained a provision for ceding the whole or a part of Canada as an 
equivalent for Jamaica, or for Ireland ; would the gentleman consider such a 
stipulation, although in the nature of a contract, as amomiting to a law of the 
land .' But he might be told, that that which is paramount to the law of the 
land is not paramount to the constitution, and that the constitution prohibits the 
cession of a state or part of a state to a foreign power. It was unquestionably 
true, whatever might be his opinion, that such is not the imiversal opinion, al- 
though it might perhaps be proved by the event, that as the United States had 
acquired, heretofore, territory by treaty, we have also parted with territory by 
treaty. As in the instance of Moose Island, and it may be in the instance of 
the new boundary line to be run between us and Canada, that it may be so run as 
to take off a part of the territory which was a part of the United States, yes, a 
part of the good old thirteen United States. 

" But the gentleman had said something of the effect of a contract on an indi- 
vidual or an oath previously taken. What analogy (Mr. R. asked) was there 
between the absurd and preposterous conduct of an individual who attempts to 
tie himself up by an oath from imprudence, from the gambling-table, from the 
bottle, from squandering his estate, and the acts of government, especially as 
those acts are affected by the acts of two branches of the government farthest 
removed from the people, who do not speak thek sense as much as we do. He 
adverted to the observation of the gentleman from South Carolina, that the Pre- 



J II N R A N D L P H . 65 

Bident and Senate have an unquestionable right to put an end to the calamities 
of warb}' making a treaty of peace, over Avhich this House could have no con- 
trol. He agreed witli that gentleman, that the power of putting an end to the 
calamities of war by making a treaty of peace, was the most important ever 
granted by a free people except the exercise of the power to declare war. He 
agreed with him also, that after Congress had declared war, the President and 
the iSeTiate might restore peace; but he could not agree with him that a treaty, 
although it should confine itself to what the gentleman called a contract, was 
tantamount to law, and competent to repeal a law. Suppose that the treaty of 
peace had been a treaty of alliance, and had stipulated that the United States 
should levy an army of 100,000 men, that they should be sent to the Continent 
to aid the British, Russian, Prussian, and Austrian army at the Battle of Wa- 
terloo. Would this House have been bound to raise the men ? Would Con- 
gress h'ave been bound to provide the means for maintaining them ? Certainly 
not. * * * In the declaration of war, it had been urged by the gentleman 
from South Carolina, that the House had acted in a judicial capacity. In a ju- 
dicial capacity ! He had heard it asked, he said, in and out of this House, 
whether the House had acted judiciously in declaring war, but he never heard 
it before agitated whether the House had acted judicially on the occasion. He 
had never before heard it doubted, whether the Congress in passing an act had 
acted judicially or legislatively." (Here Mr. Calhoun made a brief explanation 
and statement of the extent of his position.) Mr. Randolph thanked the gen- 
tleman for having stated his argument exactly as he understood it. He would 
put it to this House, to the nation, to every man, woman and child in the na- 
tion. Suppose the treaty of London had been unsuspended by the truce of 
Amiens, would the declaration of war with Great Britain have put an end to 
that treaty ' It would : and would that act have been a judicial act, when the 
consent of the President and Senate was necessary to our acting at all ? Did 
the gentleman mean to say, that when the treaty with France was repealed by 
an act making war during Mr. Adams' Administration, it was repealed by a 
judicial act .' Was it possible .' Was there a man wide awake who could ad- 
vance such an opinion .' This House, he said, acted judicially when it decided 
on the qualifications of a member ; the Senate, when it tried an impeachment. 
'* But how could that be a judicial act which begins, ' Be it enacted by the Se- 
nate and House of Representatives ?' Go to the Secretary of State's ofBce, if the 
rolls be still in existence, and see in what that act diflfers from any other. The 
title is as plain, the parchment as smooth. This act, which repealed an exist- 
ing treaty, which treaty could not be revived after peace, unless renewed and 
again ratified, differs in no respect or form or solemnity from the simplest law 
ever made for the relief of a petitioner before this House. It does not differ 
from any other legislative act, and you have no judicial power, so far as my re- 
collection now supplies me, beyond the right to try the title to a member's seat, 
and the right to expel a refractory and disorderly member." 

Mr. R. said he did not mean to enter into the comparison between the con- 
stitution of Great Britain and that of the United States, considering it irrelevant. 
7 



66 B I G R A P H Y O F 

He agreed that bur constitution was to be found in the charter, and the practicsr 
under it, whether legislative or judicial, provided the precedents are taken from 
good constitutional times. For he would never take precedents under any ad- 
ministration during times of great turbulence or excitement, when the best of 
us are under temptations, to which most of us j-ield, of carrpng our passions 
and prejudices into public life. With all due submission to the gentleman from 
South Carolina, and to this House, he did declare that the President and Senate 
did ;not and never had possessed the power, by any contract with a foreign 
power, of repealing any law of the land or enacting any law in its stead. 
This is too dangerous a power to be given to the President and the Senate under 
such a sweeping clause. If this bill had passed the house sub silentio, if it had 
been carried or rejected, he never should have thought much of it, for it would 
never have assumed to him that aspect which it had done since this morning — 
since the gentleman had asserted that so long as they confined themselves to the 
legitimate sphere of contract, the President and Senate might exercise a power 
Buperior to all law whatever. Mr. R. said he was happy that the gentleman 
had dissipated in a degree the horrid phantom which had so much alarmed, not 
his imagination, but his judgment. The gentleman had admitted that there was 
a certain influence, a certain constitutional check on the President and Senate of 
the United States. For example, impeachment as regards the President, and 
public opinion as regards the Senate ; and that the spirit of the Constitution 
would at all times meliorate the power, which, in the gentleman's opinion, the 
President and Senate possessed of violating any law of the land. He granted 
that was the case, and that the first reflection on it had caused him to depreciate 
this bill below its actual importance. For he really had thought the House was 
making a great deal out of nothing, swelling a mole-hill into a mountain, imtil 
he heard the debate, when he became convinced, that so far as the power of the 
House of Representatives was important in the Constitution of the United 
States, so far as it behooves the House to hold the power which had been con- 
ferred on them by the nation for the nation's good ; that so far, this was a ques- 
tion of importance. That the time would ever come when the President of 
the United States should dare to negotiate a treaty which should meet with the 
decided reprobation of the people, was another question. That the time would 
come when the House of Representatives should have the incivility to refuse to 
pass laws to carry into effect such a treaty, was also another question. " I do 
not believe," said he, " that either of these periods will happen in my lifetime, 
or in yours, because I believe, sir — I hope I am not mistaken — that the good 
sense of the people of the United States, if it please God to permit us to remain 
in peace — that their good sense, in spite of all the efforts to swell up great stand- 
ing armies, mighty navies, heavy taxes, and to advance the glory (as it is call- 
ed) of the government under which I live, in the blood and misery of the peo- 
ple ; that they will put an end, as they have once before put an end, to such pro- 
jects—the same in kind, but differing in degree. ****** 
Suppose that a part of the contract by this treaty had been, that each party 
should bum and destroy, or dismantle an equal number of ships of the line and 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 67 

frigates — that proposition would require no appropriation ; it would have been 
within the legitimate sphere of contracts, it would have been a bargain, it 
would have even reciprocity ; i^ would have kept the word of promise to the 
ear, but broke it to the hope. But then comes in the power of impeachment. 
The great remedy ! I have no idea of it. It has been tried and found want- 
ing — in the case of a member of the other House, and in the case of a high 
judicial officer. The power of impeachment appeared to him not the daily 
bread, but tire extreme medicine of the Constitution. He had no faith in it. 
He had no faith in a course of mercury to restore health and vigor to that con- 
stitution which was broken down and destroyed by disease. Impeachment 
may be a terrible punishment to the young and aspiring ; but to those who 
are retiring from the poHtical theatre amidst tlie plaudits of a great part of the 
nation over which they preside, such a punishment had no terrors." 

Mr. Randolph took an active part on the revenue bills, as the one for continu- 
ing the present rates of duties, or what were called the double duties, as well as 
the bill to continue in force the acts laying a duty on bank notes and notes dis- 
counted, and that laying a duty on sugar refined in the United States ; and al- 
though they severally encountered his opposition, they all passed by considera- 
ble majorities. On the 26th of the month, on the revenue bill, Mr. Randolph 
occupied the whole day in delivering his speech on the state of the nation, and 
as he had not concluded when tlie committee rose, he spent the greater part of 
the next day in the same manner. He spoke afterwards at great length in reply 
to Mr. Pinckney of Maryland, on the British commercial treaty, but having al- 
ready given liis sentiments on the subject, we do not deem it necessary to add 
his second attempt, though it fully equalled, if not'sui'passed, the first in powei 
of argxmient and happy illustration. 

On Friday, the 9th of February, Mr. Randolph offered some remarks in sup- 
port of his resolution of inquiry into the constitutionality of the appointment of 
P. B. Porter, as commissioner under the late treaty of Ghent. " The House 
would recollect," he said, " that at the time he had submitted notice of his mo- 
tion, he had distinctly stated that it was not for him to pronounce whether the 
office in question was or was not created during the time for which the late 
members of this House had been elected to serve. Some very obhging friend 
had been kind enough to hint to him that perhaps he had not pondered on the 
subject so well as he ought, before bringing it before the House ; that this office 
under the authority of the United States, being created by the treaty, was called 
into existence, although it remained vacant until lately, at the moment when 
the exchange of ratifications took place. This might or might not be ; for what 
was this argument but to assume (he would say, to beg) the very question con- 
cerning the treaty-making power, which this House had already decided in the 
negative, viz. that a treaty, without the intervention or instrumentality of this 
House, is, ipso facto, the law of the land. He should be extremely ashamed 
ever to venture so crude a motion before this House as this would have been, if 
he had not taken into consideration, with deep and mature consideration too, the 
point which some were obliging enough to suppose he had overlooked, and 



68 BIOGRAPHYOF 

civil enough to put him right in respect to it. If he understood the doctrines 
which he had heard, he did not say, uttered on this floor, in respect to the trea- 
ty-maliing power, this case of the honorable member from New York, who 
had recently vacated his seat in this House, came fully under the purview of 
the article of the Constitution ; and he would go farther, as special pleading 
was the order of the day, and say, if it did not come within its purview, in this 
view of the subject, it nevertheless would in another. Tt did not follow that, 
because the appointment in question did not come within the purview of this 
section, for particular reasons, it might not, for some other very substantial rea- 
son, which was not disclosed, but about which he had no concealment, as he 
had not, nor never would have, about public men or measures." 

He then read the clause of the 6th article of the Constitution, in these words; 
" No Senator or Rejwesentative shall, during the time for which he was elected, 
be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which 
shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased 
during such time.'" Mr. Forsyth thought the terms of this motion did not em- 
brace the question which he understood it was the gentleman's desire to place 
before the House ; the acceptance of a civil office not being an offence against 
any provision of the Constitution. He should be pleased to see it modified so as 
to place the question entirely before the House. 

Mr. Randolph had no objection to any modification which should attain his 
object. Had not the gentleman vacated his seat m this House ? Was he ame- 
nable to the order of the Speaker, as a member ? How did his seat become 
vacated ? — By his acceptance of a civil office under the United States, Avhich the 
gentleman from Georgia had said was no offence against the Constitution. "No," 
said Mr. R., " itis neither an offence against the Constitution, nor contra bonos 
mores, that I know ; but there is a modification of the proposition which may 
make it contrary to the Constitution. The committee is to try that question. 
Is there not an issue made up .'" Mr. R. said, he had no more doubt that this 
appointment was a breach of the Constitution, than the acceptance of another 
office by a late member of this House ; the office having been created and the 
salary fixed a few days before his term of service expired, was an evasion of 
the provision of the Constitution he l^ad just read. 

Mr. Forsyth, having modified the resolution, said he should still vote against 
it. The appointment of a committee he thought unnecessary. The gentleman 
from Virginia supposed the office had been created during the time for which 
the gentleman had been elected. But the person named in the resolve had been 
elected to serve from the 4th of March, 1815, to the 4th of March, 1817. The 
office he had accepted had existed prior to the 4th of March, 1815, or it is not 
yet created. Either it has no existence, or it has existed from the day on which 
the ratifications of the treaty of peace were exchanged— the 18th of February, 
1815. 

Mr. Randolph said, " the gentleman's dilemma, which he had so triumphantly 
presented to this House, carried on its horns no terrors for him. The gentleman 
ought to be obliged to liim, by giving him timely notice of this motion, to enable 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 69 

him to sharpen the horns of his dilemma. They reminded him of a circum. 
stance attending a hull-fight of the Portuguese, in their ancient and better days. 
The horns of the animal turned out were covered with leather — they threat- 
ened, but wounded not ; and that is the case with the horns with which the 
gentleman makes full butt at me. The gentleman says that the office to which 
the late member from New York was appointed, was in existence from the 18th 
of February, 1815 ; or, because the House has not definitely acted on the treaty, 
the office itself is in embryo, ready to be called, but not yet springing into exist- 
ence. Would the gentleman tell the House — would he tell the nation — that to 
appoint to an office not in existence, and to accept an office that has no exist- 
ence, is no olTence ? On the contrary, if the office was not in existence, the in- 
decent hmry of rewarding a political partisan with some of the fruits of the war, 
which was concocted under his auspices, called for the decisive interference and 
correction of this House. So much for that horn of the dilemma — that horn, ha 
thought, was sawed off. The other will not remain on much longer. But this 
office was created by the treaty. Does it therefore follow that it does not come 
within the purview of part of the provision of the Constitution which I have 
read? There was not an histant of time, from the creation of the office, be it 
created when it will, that the accepter of the office was not a member of this 
House. The precise time when a new Congress commences, mathematically, 
is at midnight of the 3d of March ; pohtically, at the moment when the index of 
the clock of this hall, set backwards or forwards to suit purposes, pointed to 12." 

Mr. R. proceeded some time longer, in the same strain ; but, as the process of 
sawing off horns may appear rather tedious, we shall not exhaust the reader's 
patience by giving a more paiticular report of it. 

Mr. Fors}'th,in reply, said he regretted the gentleman from Virginia supposed 
he had come to the House with his horns sharpened to wound him. Whilst he 
continued a member of the House, with the gentleman, all he hoped for was to 
be able to escape his horns. After some further debate, the resolution was 
agreed to — 70 to 55 votes. 

Mr. Randolph watched, with much interest, the Bank Bill, as it slowly pro- 
gressed through the House, and which he opposed on every opportunity. He 
spoke repeatedly on it, both on some of its provisions, as well as on the gene- 
ral merits and powers of the measure at large. On the clause which limits the 
choice of directors to citizens of the United States, he moved to add " native," 
which was agreed to. He also advocated the bill for changing the mode of 
compensation to members of Congress, from a per diem allowance of six dol- 
lars, to a salary one of iifteen hundred dollars a session, which passed on the 8th 
of March, 1816, by a majority of 81 to 67. Though the act became very unpopu- 
lar, and cost many members of the majority their seats, and, among others, ena- 
bled the humble writer of this sketch to recover his ; yet, Mr. Randolph stood 
too strong in the confidence of his constituents to be in the least disturbed on 
account of it. This was a very important session. Among the stirring ques- 
tions that agitated the members, in and out of the House, that of the presidency 
was none of the least. On the 16th of March, a caucus was held of the Re- 
7* 



70 BIOGRAPHYOF 

publican members, in the chamber of the House of Representatives, for the pur- 
pose of nominating candidates for the offices of President and Vice President, at 
which General Samuel Smith, of Mai-yland, presided. Mr. Clay submitted a 
resolution against the expediency of a caucus recommendation ; but, it being 
voted dovpn, and the canvass eventuating in the nomination of James Monroe, 
by sixty-five votes, and W. H. Crawford, fifty-four, for the presidency, Mr. Clay 
submitted the resolution, Avhich was concurred in without opposition, recommend- 
ing James Monroe to the people of the United States, as a suitable person for 
President, and D. D. Tompkins as Vice President, for the term of four years, 
commencing on the 4th of March next. Mr. Randolph, being an opponent, on 
political grounds, of the two candidates, as well as of the principle of the caucus 
system of nomination, would not attend the meeting, though it was to eventuate 
so highly honorably to his native State. On the 8th of April, the bill for char- 
tering a Bank of the United States came back from the Senate, with several 
amendments, when Mr. Randolph took occasion to move an indefinite postpone- 
ment of the bill and amendments, and sustained his motion by a fcAv remarks, 
and also answered the objections of other members, particularly of Mr. Cal- 
houn, the great champion and father of the bill. His motion was lost by 91 
noes to 67 ayes, which indicated the fate of the bill, and it accordingly became 
a law a few days afterwards. He spoke three hours, on the 6th of April, 
against the passage of the Tariff Bill, or, as it was called, the bill for regulating 
the duties on imports and tonnage, which passed by 88 ayes to 54 noes. 

We may be permitted here to remark, that the session commencing December, 
1815, and ending the last of April, 1816, was one of the most important, in re- 
lation to the character of the country (which was fully vindicated), and in the 
amount and magnitude of the business transacted, as great as that of any pre- 
vious one. This first session of the 18th Congress has been considered an era 
in our national legislation. It extended a ministering hand to heal the wounds 
which had been inflicted by the late war. It provided for the numerous claims 
for services and losses during that period, establishing the currency, which had 
become very much disordered, on a specie basis ; the creation of a National 
Bank, for eqixal exchanges and facilitating the fiscal operations of the govern- 
ment ; providing permanent and substantial means for the increase and mainte- 
nance of the navy ; for the payment of the mihtia that had been called into ser- 
vice ; providing pensions for the widows and orphans of militia killed or who 
died in the service ; granting bounties in land to certain Canadian volunteers ; 
for improving the navy pension fund ; and other measures in relation to the 
revenues, internal and external. We are happy to add that the prosperity of 
the country was such, that the revenues yielded enough to meet all these extra- 
ordinary expenses, and to enable the government of Mr, Mon"oe to commence 
the grateful task of liquidating the national debt, which had accumulated to 
about one hundred and fifty millions, and which was ultimately most honorably 
discharged in the administration of General Jackson. Although Mr. Randolph 
was confined at home by indisposition, and did not attend till some time in Janu- 
aiy, yet he amply made up for lost time, entered into the discussion of every 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 71 

prominent measure with his usual vigor and brilliancy, and spoke more (and 
perhaps as much to the purpose) than he had done at any previous session. 
His main speech, on the Internal Taxes, lasted for three hours, and he spoke aa 
long on the National Bank ; in fact, the whole of his speeches, on the various 
subjects which were discussed during the session, if collected, would fill a tole- 
rable volume. It will also be perceived, how well he supported those proposi- 
tions which he himself introduced ; and he seemed to rise with the opposition 
which they encountered, and appeared determined not to yield the palm of vic- 
tory to any competitor or combination of talent, and seldom failed in his readi- 
ness of rejoinder and powers of extemporaneous oratory, to cany his point. 
He had been out of his seat since April, 1813, when he was supplanted by Mr. 
Eppes, but he seemed to have gained strength and new vigor by his two 
years' rustication. 

The Compensation Act of the last session had excited much opposition 
throughout the country. Many of those members who voted for it, felt the 
security of their seats rather frail. Many had to give way to the popular tor- 
rent, and none but the most powerful, such as Mr. Clay, Colonel Johnson, and 
Mr. Randolph, were able to breast it. The House introduced a bill, early in 
January, 1817, with a view of modifying or repealing it. Mr. Randolph openly 
and manfully justified his vote. He said, the auction of popularity differed in 
one respect from all others — the first bidder standing in the same relation to the 
transaction as the last bidder does at other auctions. Hence, it could be no 
cause of surprise that, at all times when any measure within the scope of public 
contemplation, should pe peculiarly odious, a great anxiety is manifested as to 
who shall be foremost in the repeal ; or, otherwise, if the measure was entirely 
desirable, the same struggle should take place in the race who should be first to 
reach the goal. He, for one, had been extreriiely glad that the House had, on 
this occasion, so far, at least, not been wanting in a sense of decent self-respect. 
He hoped the committee would not understand him to intend to enter into the 
merits of the bill,. or to commit himself for the support of it, on its final pas- 
sage; but he had no hesitation in saying, if it was to pass, it ought not 
to pass in the shape in which it had been offered by the committee. " What 
urgency was there in this case .' Would any member show him that there was 
a great urgency that the act of the last session should be repealed as to the re- 
maining part of this session, and that the law should be further modified by an 
increase of the compensation, 33 and 1-3 per cent. This body ought not to act 
on every frivolous impulse. It ought not to act on any temporary excitement. 
The people of the United States are the sovereigns of the United States. The 
government is theirs, because the soil is theirs. The country is theirs. They 
have a right to be heard. But what have we heard from the public on this sub- 
ject, except a solitary petition this morning, from some part of Pennsylvania, 
for a repeal of the law ? Now, with all due respect for public opinion, where 
is the necessity for the passage of the bill on your table ? If this House is to 
act on this subject — if it is to undo or patch up the act of the last session — if this 
House is to ofier something like a tub to the great leviathan of popularity — 



72 BIOGRAPHYOF 

what ought they to do ? — to undo all they had done, or do nothing ? In what 
situation otherwise shall we stand ? In what predicament shall we present our- 
selves to our constituents, going on the principle that these constituents are hos- 
tile to the law ? Thank God, mine have said nothing to me about it. No, 
sir. I do not think mine will say anj'thing to me on that score. What will 
we say to the people who have been clamoring about it, when they are told 
that we have repealed the act, and taken the difference of 33 and 1-3 more than 
we should have had if we had never passed it. I would not wish to stand in 
a more pitiable, I would add pitiful, condition before the people than with this 
bill in my hand, as amendatory of the act of the last session. Without now 
giving an opinion on the merits of tlie bill, reserving himself till the bill be more 
fully before the House, he said he rose to offer an amendment, which he be- 
lieved would supersede the amendment of the gentleman from Kentucky. He 
said he should not pledge himself to vote for the bill, even if his amendment 
was agreed to. He did not wish to entrap the House, but to show what he 
thought ought to be done, if we moved in this business at all. He proposed to 
strike out the whole bill, and, in lieu thereof, insert a clause to repeal entirely 
the law of last session, and require a deduction from the amount of pay of the 
members, as shall, during the past and present sessions, make the amount of 
pay equal to six dollars a day. The act of the last session was retrospective 
and retroactive in its operation ; and if the House touched the law of the last 
session, they ought to take up the matter where they did at the last session, and 
any law now passed should be retrospective in the same manner. He thought 
each Congress ought to take upon itself the responsibility of assessing its own 
pay. That to do so was a duty devolving on it, from \<^iich he thought it had 
no right to shrink. If, now, they had assessed it too high in their own opi- 
nion, they ought to refund the excess." Mr. R. spoke two or three times more 
on the subject. He stated that, from the proceedings of the Legislature of his 
own State, he gathered an auspicious judgment in favor of his own course upon 
this question. Some member in his Legislature, had lately introduced a resolu- 
tion, hoping to make political capital out of it, condemning the act of the last 
session in most reproachful terms. But, after reaching the Senate, it was 
thrown on the table, where it still lies, hke bad money, nailed to the coxuiter. 
He thought the nation, after seeing such lavish expenditures in support of the 
army and navj% and after the usual allowances to Commodores Hull, Decatur, 
and Bainbndge, in order that they might Uve like gentlemen, could not begrudge 
to their watch-dogs the moderate compensation which the act of the last session 
allowed them. The bill was finally amended so as to repeal the act of the last 
session, leaving the compensation to be fixed by the next Congress, and, in that 
state, passed by a great majority. At the next session, the question was again 
agitated, and the daily compensation was fixed at eight dollars, and the same 
sum for every twenty miles travelling to and from the seat of government. It 
was for his vote on the act of the previous session, that Mr. Clay encountered 
a most formidable opposition in the person of John Pope. The public is, no 
doubt, well acquainted with the touching anecdote of the rifle, by which Mr. 



JOHNRANDOLPH. 73 

Clay regained his popularity and rode, on the returning wave of popular favor, 
into his seat again. Mr. Randolph was too firmly seated to encourage any can- 
didate in the attempt to remove him ; while the successor of the v/riter, appre- 
hensive of an impending danger of his re-election, or from some other cause, 
prudently retired, and left the post open to his ready occupancy. Colonel R. M. 
Johnson saved his election, like Coriolanus, by showmg his scar.s, and saying, 
like him, " These are my wounds, which are yours in private." 

Mr. Randolph did not attend during the session of 1818, being detained at 
home by indisposition. A half brother of his, however, Henry St. George 
Tucker, took his seat in the House, as a representative from the Winchester 
district. He was but little inferior to Mr. Randolph as a debater, and took the 
lead in the discussion of a bill he introduced, as one of the Committee on Roads 
and Canals, in which he spoke in favor of internal improvements generally. 
He differed therein, as well as on many other points of policy, from his brpther, 
and there appeared no such evident marks of familiar affection and attachment 
between thern, during the time they served together, as we were led to expect 
from their near relationship. Mr. Tucker's disposition was most unlike his 
brother's. He was extremely amiable, modest, polite and conciliating, and was 
never known to lose his temper during the whole period of his public service. 
He was, at the end of four years, promoted to a seat on the be«ch of the High 
Court of Appeals, in his native State, which both his disposition and talents 
enabled him to fill with justice and honor. 

Mr. Randolph was called up, on the Navy Appropriation Bill, on tl^e 28tt of 
December, 1819, on account of what he considered a very gi'eat irregularity 
which had grown up in the Treasury Department, of transferring the unexpended 
balance of appropriations from one head to another branch of expenditure^ on 
the responsibility of the Secretary of the Treasury, provided the deficient branch 
happened to be of a consonant character. Mr. Randolph said, it was no part of 
his business to enter into the merits or demerits of the question now before the 
House ; but to state a fact, which every member would bear in mind through 
the whole of this discussion, that the abuse which had been so eloquently ex- 
posed to the House (bjj Mr. Clay) had not extended as far back as the adminis- 
tration of Mr Jefferson, during the whole of which, no such practice had ob- 
tained at the Treasury, or elsewhere. The practice, he said, grew out of that 
celebrated law of March the 3d, 1809 — that famous, or, to speak freely but 
correctly, infamous law — which, without fear of correction from any side of 
the House, he pronounced to be the offspring of a dirty intrigue. During the 
administration of Thomas Jefferson, there had been no occasion to resort to any 
such law — no such practice had prevailed as had grown out of that act. During 
the greater part of that administration, such had been his access to the Treasury 
Department, and such the duties imposed upon him by this House, he spoke of 
his own knowledge and fearlessly, in saying the expenditures had been gene- 
rally within the appropriation. No sum appropriated to one object had been 
devoted to another; but, at the end of every two years, every appropriation, for 
reasons found in the Constitution, did, by the act of 1799, cease and determine. 



74 BIOGRAPHYOF 

Whatever censure gentlemen might throw on the financial administration of the 
nation, he hoped they would except that period — a period in whicli the nation 
had made one of its most expensive acquisitions— the purchase of Louisiana. If 
his memory did not much deceive him, the Secretary of War then contrived, 
without any of this hocus-pocus legerdemain of transfers of appropriations, to 
take possession of the country, without any additional expenditme in the mili- 
tary department. At that time, we maintained about three thousand men, at an 
expense of about nine hundred thousand dollars per annum. Compare the ex- 
penditures at that time with those of the present, and, making every allowance 
for the advance in the price of articles of subsistence, or, in other words, for the 
depreciation of our miserable paper money, a large amount might be carried to 
the credit of the administration of which he spoke. He also made some re- 
marks in answer to Mr. LownJy, vvho had followed him in the debate. He 
said (after replying to M/. Lowndy), that gentlemen entirely mistook him, if 
they supposed that, knight-errant like, he came tilting here, to break a spear 
with powers and principalities. Nothing was farther from his intention. He 
said there were certai'; signs in the political horizon, wliich he hailed with some 
degree of pleasure. He had some hope that the term of twenty years is the sum 
of our political c^cle, and that we are coming back to the good old times of re- 
sponsibility and specification ; and he concluded by denying that provisions and 
the o-reat staples of the coimtry, as had been alleged, were higher than in the 
years 1802 to 1804. He took part in the debate on several subjects of minor 
importance, among others, in opposition to Mr. Cuthbert's resolution to inquire 
into the expediency of establishing a registry of slaves, -with a view more effect- 
uallv to prevent their importation. He agreed with the mover that the United 
States possessed the power of putting an end to the slave-trade, but he could not 
go with him so far as to admit that they had the power to select the means. He 
never refused an inquiry, when asked ; but he could not help thinking that this 
may end in another shape — a question which has been, unfortunately, too often 
agitated, and might again agitate this body : He meant the definitiveness of the 
powers of this government. He denied that the government could, under the 
plea of means, do that which they could not, under that of ends. It was by this 
hocus-pocus the government foimd itself enabled to create a great bank, the 
happy consequences of which we are now reaping. Where was the use, he 
asked, of any limitations at all ? When we want to do an)'thing, we have 
only to call it means necessary for authorized purposes. 

On Mr. Strothers' resolution, proposing to publish, at the expense of the 
House, a certain number of copies of the secret Journal of the old Congress of 
the Federation, Mr. Randolph, though not opposed to the object of the mover, 
proposed to refer it to a select committee to inquire into its expediency. Among 
other observations, he quoted a remarkable saying of the most remarkable man, 
"that we should wash our dirty hnen at home." The resolution afterwards 
passed. On the 22d of February, Mr. Randolph introduced the following resp- 
lution : 

" Resolved, That provision be made by law for the support of the family of 



JOHNRANDOLPH. 75 

the late Oliver H. Perry of the U. S. Navy, and for the education of his child- 
ren." 

Mr. Randolph's remarks not having been distinctly heard by the reporter of 
the National Intelligencer, and he being dissatisfied with the form in which they 
appeared, thought proper to give them as corrected by himself, in a note to the 
editors, of the 24th. He said he rose to offer a motion. He believed it was 
difficult for any member of this House, certainly it was not possible for him, to 
keep pace with the honorable gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Lowndes) 
in the race of honor and public utihty. That gentleman, in the motion which 
had just been adopted, anticipated him in part in a proposition which he (Mr. 
R.) had intended on this particular day, for reasons which would suggest them- 
selves to the mind of every one, to offer to the House. When he had this morn- 
ing heard the Tower guns announcing the return of the birth-day of Washing- 
ton, the thought had come across his mind, in reference to certain proceedings 
in this House and elsewhere, " This people draw nigh unto me with their lips, 
and honor me with their mouth, but their hearts are far from me." His pur- 
pose was, he said, to make a motion in relation to the wife and children of the 
late Oliver Hazard Perry, of the United States Navy, It was his opinion, whe- 
ther correct or not, that the country owed more to that man, in its late contest 
with Great Britain, than to any other, always excepting Isaac Hull,— -that man 
Avho had first broken the prestige, the cuirass of British invincibility. He had 
frequently, he said, heard persons of that country speak in terms of admiration 
of the achievement of Captain Hull, in his escape from a fleet of the enemy in 
the Constitution frigate, of the admirable seamanship which he had displayed, 
of his professional skill ; but he had never heard any of them speak in cordial 
applause of his achievement with the Guerriere, that proud frigate of the first 
class, which had carried her name, in defiance, emblazoned in large letters on 
her foretop-sail, that the American picaroons might beware of his majesty's ship, 
and make no mistakes. That was an event on which they were generally si- 
lent, or their praise very faint. He believed that old England would consent 
that forty Packenhams, with all their legions, should have been buried on the 
alluvial lands of the Mississippi, to take back the single action of the Guer- 
riere ; because that action had done more than any other to open the eyes of 
Europe, and dispel the illusion of British supremacy on the ocean. Next in 
glory to the victory over the Guerriere, is that on Lake Erie by the gallant Perry. 
And this, Mr. R. said, is not inferior in lustre to any event in the naval history 
of England, from that of La Hogue under Admiral Russell. One, said he, hafi 
shown us the way to victory in single ships, the other in fleets. Shall we suf- 
fer his family to melt up the plate ^that was given him by his countr)'men, by 
corporations, and by legislative bodies, in comjiliment to his gallantry, to buy 
bread ? He would say no more, but at once offer the resolution, which was 
unanimously adopted. 

Although the Missouri question was agitated at the session of 1820, and^Mr, 
Randolph, on the 3d of February, delivered his views upon it at length, yet as 
it was again more fully debated at the succeeding session, when he entered 



76 BIOGRAPMYOr 

more deeply into the consideration of it, in order to fill up the interval be- 
tween the two periods, and to give a connected series throughout, it is thought 
best to defer tlie presentation of his views on the subject for the present, to 
afford an opportunity of giving his observations on other subjects during the 
interval, particularly on a motion he made on the 20th of February, in the fol- 
lowing form : 

" Ordered, That the clerk do prepare, and lay before this House, a statement 
of the annual amount of the contingent expenses thereof, from the commence- 
ment of the present Government to the 30th of November last ; distinguishing 
the expense of stationery, printing, fuel, lights, furniture, and attendants, with 
a statement of the nature and amount of the perquisites of each." 

Mr. Randolph rose to make a motion, which, he said, he should prefer to 
have been made by any other member than himself, but which he felt it his 
duty to bring forward. He trusted that, whatever others might think, or how- 
ever others might act, he should never feel a disposition to shrmk from a dis- 
charge of his duty. It was impossible, he said, for any man to see what was 
going on here, abuse heaped upon abuse, hke Pelion upon Ossa, until it was 
impossible to tell where it would end ; — it threatened to reach the skies. The 
House, he said, was emphatically entrusted with the purse-strings of the nation. 
He hoped it would not prove to be the case, that the people had, according to a 
well known maxim, trusted the lamb to the custody of the wolf. It behooves 
the House, as the grand inquest of the nation, also to inquire into abuses of 
every description, but first to pluck the beam out of its own eye, before it at- 
tempted to take out the mote from its brother's eye. It had been his misfor- 
tune, especially since the agitation of this Missouri question, not to be able to 
sleep of nights, and he consequently often arose before daybreak. These early 
risings had been the means of putting him on the scent, he was not sure of the 
true game, but of something like peculation or abuses, in a very small way, in 
the contingent expenses of this House. It behooves us, said he, as the guardi- 
ans of this imperium in imperiOi if we are arraigned at the public bar, much 
snore if we airaign others, that we appear with clean hands, that there be no 
blot or stain on them. " In the course of my lucubrations, I have sometimes 
started a question which, although we may approximate to the truth, is as im- 
possible to be ascertained as the quadrature of the circle, and will no doubt be 
discovered with the solution of that opprobrium of geometry, the philosopher's 
stone, the perpetual motion, or the grand arcanum, the elixir vitse, when men 
shall quaff' immortality and joy, or rather misery; — for death, sir, with all its 
terrors, is our best friend, if we knew how to use life, and comes to deliver us 
from the vexation and strife of this trumpery world. I have," said Mr. R., " en- 
deavored to ascertain the pay of a member of Congress, but, with all the means 
I could employ, it has eluded my search, and will continue to do so, I have no 
doubt, to the end. Those who write circular letters and keep up a voluminous 
correspondence, and those who received more letters than others, receive, through 
the privilege of franking and stationery, a greater compensation than others. 
He would mention one fact to show how it is in the nature of abuse to grow on 



J O H N R A N D O L P H . 77 

what it feeds ; and it may be ominous — ^it may cut love. They had made him, 
for the lirst time in twenty years, a present, at this session, of a knife ; and he 
beheved he should carry it home as a spolia opima, and hand it down as a tro- 
phy of his public service, of some twenty years, nearly fourteen of which, — 
just double the time that Jacob served for Rachel, — -had been spent in opposition 
to what is called Government, for he commenced his political apprenticeship in 
the ranks of opposition ; and could he add fourteen more to them, he supposed 
some political Laban would double his servitude and condemn him to toil in the 
barren field of opposition, for he despaired of seeing any man elected President 
whose conduct he could entirely approve. He should never be in favor at court, 
for he had, somehow or other, as great an alacrity at getting into a minority as 
Sir John Falstaffhad at sinking. It was perhaps the place he was best fitted 
for, as he had not strength to encounter the drudgery and detail of business. 
Habit had rendered it familiar to him, and, after all, it was not without its 
sweets as well as its bitters, since it involved the glorious privilege of finding 
fault, — one very dear to the depraved condition of poor humanity. In relation 
to the contingent fund of this House, he said that when he had the honor of 
being on the Committee of Ways and Means, they were so incessantly pestered 
with accounts for candles, and wood, and molasses, and water, and what not, 
that at last, at his suggestion, a committee was raised to audit and settle the ac- 
count of the contingent expenses of this House. People were constantly com- 
ing to that committee and complaining that they could not get paid, although 
the clerk showed their receipts in full. They were asked, how was this .' and 
were answered, they were obliged to give receipts in fuU to the clerk before 
they could get their contracts, and then he would not pay them, it being a per- 
sonal engagement of his own. They were told by the committee that it was 
an affair between them and the clerk ; that they had bought the contracts by 
letting the clerk have the use of their money, and that if their sweet turned out 
a sour, they must make the best of a bargain creditable to neither party, and 
made at our, as well as their expense. Whether they ever got paid Mr. R. 
did not know. He knew that the clerk was a public defaulter, and he was not 
sure the balance due by him was ever paid. He cast no imputation on the pre- 
sent clerk. The abuse of which he complained was not under his control." 
Mr. Randolph then read his resolution, and concluded by wishing the accounts 
of the two houses kept separate ; they would, he thought, constitute a curi- 
osity. His resolution was adopted. 

.SPEECH OF MR. RANDOLPH ON THE MISSOURI QUESTION. 

That most exciting question, the admission of Missouri into the Union, was 
again agitated in Congress, in the Session of 1821. It arose from the circum- 
stance of her having inserted a clause, the 4th, in the 26tli article of the Con- 
stitution, which her late convention had adopted, prohibiting any free persons 
of color, or mulattoes, from entering or settling within the State. The great 
<iifficulty seemed to arise from the iriends, as well as foes, of Missouri equally 
8 



78 BIOGRAPHYOF 

voting against the numerous propositions for her admission into the Union, upon 
the condition that she should, by an act of her legislature, sitting as a convention 
in that regard, repeal that obnoxious clause ; the friends of slavery wishing to 
admit her without any restrictions, and the opponents refusing it except upon 
the terms offered. Among the former was Mr. Randolph. During the recess, 
the election of President had taken place, and Mr. Monroe had been re-elected 
by an almost unanimous vote, having received 218 votes. In taking the ne- 
cessary measures to meet the Senate in the official canvass in the House, on the 
14th day of February, Mr. Clay, as chairman of the committee, reported two 
resolutions, the second one providing, that if any objection be made to the 
counting of the votes of Missouri, by the President of the Senate, he should state 
it then ; were the votes of Missouri to be counted the result would be this,— for 
James Monroe 231 votes, if not counted, 218; but in either event James 
Monroe is elected President of the United States. The question being stated on 
this, the second resolution, Mr. Randolph said, " That he could not consent to 
this special verdict, as it had been called, in the case of Missouri. He could 
not recognize in this House, or the other, singly or conjointly, the power to 
decide on the votes of any State. Suppose you strike out Missouri and insert 
South Carolina, which has also a provision in its constitution repugnant to the 
Constitution of the United States ; or Virginia, or Massachusetts, which had a 
test, he believed, in its constitution ; was there any less power to decide on their 
votes, than on those of Missouri ? He maintained that the electoral college was as 
independent of Congress as Congress was of them ; and we have no right to 
judge of their proceedings. He would rather see an interregnum, or have no 
votes counted, than see a principle adopted which went to the very foiui- 
dation on which the presidential office rested. Suppose a case in which some 
gentleman of one House or the other should choose to object to the vote of some 
State, and say that if it be thus, such a person is elected, if it be otherwise, 
another person is elected, did anybody ever see the absurdity of such a pro- 
position ? He deemed the resolution erroneous, and in a vital part, on the ascer- 
tainment of the person who had been elected by the people, chief magistrate of 
the United States, the most important officer under the constitution — the mo- 
narch — for whoever in any country commands the army and navy, collects and 
distributes the revenue, is a king, call him what you will. The time of the 
House was precious, and he would not say all he felt and thought on the subject." 
The Senate being present, and their president having counted the votes of all the 
other States, opened the package containing the vote of the State of Missouri, 
and handed it to the tellers to be counted. Mr. Livermore of New Hampshire 
objected, because Missouri was not a State of this Union. The Senate, on mo- 
tion, then withdrew. Mr. Floyd of Virginia then submitted the following : 

" Resolved, That Missouri is one of the States of this Union, and her vote 
ought to be received and counted." 

Mr. Floyd supported his resolution by a few observations. Mr. Archer of 
Maryland moved to postpone it indefinitely. Mr. Randolph said that " it was not 
\nthout reluctance that he ofTered himself to the attention of the House at this 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 79 

time, but he submitted to the worthy gentleman from Maryland, whether the 
object which he had in view could, according to his own views of propriety, be 
effected by the course which he had recommended to this House. It was no part 
of his nature nor his purpose, to inflate to a greater magnitude this exaggerated 
question of the admission of Missouri into the Union. But the question had now 
assumed that aspect, which, had it depended on him, it should have taken at an 
earlier period of the session. It was not only congenial with the principles and 
practices of our free government, but unless he was deceived, with the princi- 
ples and practice of that country from which we have adopted, and wisely adopted, 
our manly institutions, that on any occasion when any person presents himself 
to a representative body, with credentials of a title to a seat, he shall take his 
seat and perform the functions of a member until a prior and a better claim shall 
be preferred and established. It was seen that, but the day before yesterday, the 
committee of elections came forward with a report stating that the qualifications 
and returns of certain members were perfect, who have been acting and legis- 
lating, and on whose votes the laws of the land have depended for the last 
three months. Just so it ought to have been with regard to the representation 
from the State of Missouri. She has now presented herself for the first time in 
a visible and tangible shape. She comes into this House, not in forma pau- 
peris, but claiming to be one of the co-sovereignty of this confederated govern- 
ment, and presents to you her vote, by receiving or rejecting which, the election 
of your chief magistrate will be lawful or unlawful. He did not mean by the 
vote of Missouri, but by the votes of all the States. 

" Now comes the question, whether we will not merely repel her, but repe! 
her with scorn and contumely. Cui bono ? she might add, quo warranto ? He 
should like to hear from the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Livermore), 
where this House gets its authority. He should like to hear some of the learn- 
ed (or unlearned) sages of the law, with which this House, as well as all our 
legislative bodies, abounds, show their authority for refusing to receive the votes 
of the State of Missouri. He went back to first principles. The Electoral 
Colleges are as independent of this House as we are of them. They^had as 
good a right to pronounce on their qualifications as this House has of its mem- 
bers. Your office, in regard to the electoral votes, is merely ministerial, to 
count the votes — and you undertake to reject votes ! To what will this lead .'' 
Do you ever expect to see the time when there shall be in the presidential chair, 
a creature so poor, so imbecile,* not only not worthy of being at the head of the 
nation, but not worthy of being at the head of a petty corporation. Do you 
ever expect to see in that office an animal so poor as not to have in this House 
retainers enough to reject the votes of any State, which, being counted, might 
prevent his continuance, and their continuance, and that of their friends, in 
office .' He spoke not of the present incumbent. He was not so wanting in 
common decency and decorum. He spoke in reference not only to what was 
past, but to that which was prospective, and which every man who looks the 

* Prophetic of later times. 



80 BIOGRAPHYOF 

least into the future, must know will happen, and in all probability, will very 
shortly happen. He imdertook to say that if this House, by an indefinite post- 
ponement, should — for the form was immaterial — or in any other way, and it 
would be observed, in the first instance, in the person of Missouri, of this much 
injured, long-insulted, and trampled-upon member of this confederacy, was this 
example to be set, — if you do, for the first time, now refuse to receive the votes 
of a State, it will be created into precedent, and that in the lifetime of some of 
those who hear me, for the manufacture of precedents by this House. The 
wisest men may make constitutions on paper, as they please. What was the 
theory of this constitution .' It is that this House, except upon a certain contin- 
gency, has nothing to do with the appointment of president and vice-president 
of the United States, and when it does act, must act by States, and by States only 
can it act on this subject, unless it transcend the limits of the constitution. What 
was to be the practice of the constitution as now proposed ? That an informal 
meeting of this and the other House is to usurp the initiative, the nominative 
power, with regard to the two first officers of the government ; that they are to 
wrest from the people their indefeasible right of telling us whom they Avish to 
exercise the functions of the government, in despite and contempt of their deci- 
sion. Is there to be no limit to the power of Congress .' No mound or barrier 
to stay their usurpation ? Why were the electoral bodies established ? The 
constitution has wisely provided that they shall assemble, each by itself, and 
not by one great assembly. By this means, assuredly, that system of intrigue 
which was matured into a science, or rather into an art here, was guarded 
against. But he ventured to say, the electoral college of this much despised 
Missouri, acting conformably to law and to the genius and nature of our insti- 
tutions, if it were composed of but one man, was as independent of this House 
as the House was of it. If, however, per fan aut nefas, the point is to be car- 
ried, if the tocsin is to be sounded, if the troops are to be rallied and Missouri 
is to be expelled with scorn from our august presence — how august, Mr. Speaker, 
I leave it with you to decide — there are those who will be willing to take her 
to theiajarms. And in point of mere expediency, he would ask of gentlemen — 
he put the suggestion in that shape, because he believed they were inaccessible 
to any other consideration — in point of expediency, he asked them, what were 
they now doing but riveting those ties by which Missouri would, he trusted, 
for ever be bound to that section of the country by which, with whatever rea- 
son, her rights have been supported on this floor ? I do look with a sentiment 
I cannot express, I look with a sentiment of pity — and .that has been said to be 
nearly allied to love, as I know it to be allied to a very different emotion — I look 
with pity on those who believe that, by their feeble efforts in this House, govern- 
ed by forms and technicalities — your sergeant-at-arms and committees of attend- 
ance and mummeries, such as belong to other countries where I have never tra- 
velled, and trust in God I never shall — they can stop the growth of the rising 
empire of the west. Let gentlemen lay a resolution on the table : let it be en- 
grossed in a fair hand, and do you, sir, Mr. Speaker, sign it, that the waves of 
the Mississippi shall not seek the ocean, and then send your sergeant-at-arms 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 81 

to carry it into execution, and see whetlier you can enforce it with all the force, 
physical or moral, under your control." Mr. Archer, of Virginia, opposed the 
resolution in a few remarks. And Mr. Randolph again addressed the House. 
" Supposing he had been misunderstood, he wished to explain. His position 
had been misunderstood. It had been said, and pertinently said, that Missouri 
might be admitted into the Union in more ways than one. His position then 
was, that this is the first instance in which Missouri has knocked at the door 
and demanded her rights. It is now for us, by permitting her to come in, or 
rather by refraining from extruding her from this hall, to determine whether she 
shall now be one of this commonwealth, or as the fashion is to call it, of our 
empire. He said he had no doubt that Congress might drive Missouri into the 
wilderness, like another son of Hagar. If we do, we drive her at our own 
peril. If either the worthy member or senators from Missouri, whose long for- 
bearance had excited surprise in no man's breast more than his own ; he did 
not mean to blame them for pursuing the counsels of cooler heads than his — had 
presented themselves here, would you (addressing the Speaker) have felt your- 
self bound to exclude them from the communion, with more than papal power 
— not only from the cup of wine, but from the bread of life itself. Let me tell 
my friend before me (Mr. Archer), we have not the power which he thinks we 
possess: and if there be a casus omissus in the constitution, I want to know 
where we are to supply the defect. You may keep Missouri out of the Union 
by violence, but here the issue is joined and she comes forward in the persons 
of her electors, instead of representative, and she was thus presented in a shape 
as unquestionable as that of New York or Pennsylvania, or the proudest and 
oldest State in the Union. Will you deny them admittance .' Will you thrust 
her electors and her's only from this hall ? I made no objection to the vote of 
New Hampshire. I had as good a right to object to the vote of New Hamp- 
shire, as the gentleman from New Hampshire has to object to the vote of Mis- 
souri. The electors of Missouri were as much the homines probi et kgales 
as those of New Hampshire. This was no skirmish, as the gentleman from 
Virginia had called it. This was the battle where Greek meets Greek. Let us 
buckle on our armor, let us put aside all this flummery, these metaphysical dis- 
tinctions, these unprofitable drawings of distinctions without (differences ; let us 
say now, as we have on another occasion, we vrill assert, maintain, and vindi- 
cate our rights, or put to every hazard, what you preteiKl to hold in such high 
estimation." Mr. R. then alluded to the election of Jefferson and Burr, when they 
were told as now, they must withdraw their opposition : that a dissolution of 
the Union was threatened, that volcanoes began to play, that earthquakes yawn- 
ed beneath us. " We would not give way. We appealed to the good sense of 
the nation, and I now appeal to this nation, whether this pretended sympathy 
for the rights of a few free negroes is to supersede the rights of the free white 
population of ten times their whole number." He went on in the same strain 
some minutes longer, but as enough has been said on this subject we will bring 
it to a close. It is well known that every effort to admit Missouri into the Union 
was defeated. The times looked portentous. Every patriot felt alarmed, and 
8* 



82 BIOGRAPHYOF 

among others Mr. Jefferson, at the danger which threatened the peace and the 
Stability of the Union. A preserver appeared in the person of Mr. Clay. He 
poured oil on the agitated waters, and calmed the troubled seas. By a resolution 
introduced by him to appoint a select committee of twenty-three, by ballot, in 
union with one appointed by the Senate, a compromise was effected, ind a re- 
solution reported almost unanimously by the committee, of whom he was chair- 
man, which restricted the State of Missouri from passing any act, pursuant to 
the 4th clause of the 26th article of her constitution, prohibiting the citizens of 
either of the States of this Union from enjoying the privileges and immunities to 
which such citizen is entitled under the constitution of the United States, and 
that the said State shall declare their assent to this provision, as a fundamental 
condition, and transmit the same to the President by the 4th of November next: 
whereupon the President, by proclamation, shall annoimce the fact, and the 
said State, without any further proceedings, shall be admitted into the Union. 
On the 26th of February, 1821, the resolution was taken up, the previous ques- 
tion was ordered : and the main question was put and carried in the affirmative, 
and the resolution passed by a vote of 87 to 81. During the whole period of 
this exciting debate, there were enough votes of the slaveholding States and 
their allies to decide the question in favor of the admission of Missouri. And 
yet these unreasonable members ob.stinate]y held out, and jeopardized the safety 
of the Union, by joining with the enemies of slavery in keeping Missouri out 
of the pale of the Union. And for what? The enemies of slavery acted from 
principle, the false friends of Missouri from a blind and obstinate pride of opi- 
nion, which they would wilfully maintain even at the risk of a dissolution of 
the Union. And what, after all, was the peace-offering that Mr. Clay so for- 
tunately held out.' Nothing but a simple guaranty by that State, to the citi- 
zens of the United States, the privileges and immunities which they enjoy in 
every other State ! In the terms of the compromise, even the delicacy of the 
friends of Missouri is not offended, for the words " free persons of color and 
mulattofcs" are not once mentioned ; and yet it had the effect of magic in heal- 
ing all the differences that had arisen between the respective parties. 

There is tb-a years' interval between the deUvery of these speeches and the 
first, and yet we find no falling off in the mental faculties of Mr. Randolph. 
He is still distingui&bed as a debater and a powerful extemporaneous .speaker. 
So far, there does not appear any foundation for the charge of the Washington 
correspondent of the New York Tribune, that Mr. Randolph was deranged as 
early as 1800! 

About the 22d of March, 1820, the meeting between Commodores Decatur 
and Barron took place at Bladensburg, where Decatur fell, and, what appears 
rather anomalous, Barron's large size saved him. Both shots took about the 
same level of direction, but Barron being two or three inches taller than his an- 
tagonist, received his ball in the hip joint, within one inch of the cavity of the 
abdomen, while his ball penetrated the body of Decatur about half an inch 
above. Randolph constituted himself undertaker and chief mourner at the 
funeral, and acted as marshal of the day, probably from the old Grecian maxim, 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 83 

tliat in times of confusion and difficulty, superior abilities will, by general con- 
sent, naturally assume their appropriate station at the head of ziflairs. He 
was much busied, from the time the funeral procession left the residence of the 
deceased, in riding up and down the ranks and keeping oif intruders and main- 
taining order and regularity. The next morning, as soon as the Journal was 
read, he moved the House to adjourn, as a token of respect for the memory of 
his friend. The motion was opposed by Mr. Speaker Taylor, of New York, 
on the ground that the deceased had fallen in violation of the laws of God and 
man. Mr. Randolph, in reply, quoted the answer of our Saviour, " Render 
unto Cffisar the things that are Cassai-'s," and unto Maryland the right she pos- 
sessed of visiting every infraction of her laws upon the party offending. If 
his friend had violated the laws of God, he stood at his bar to receive his sen- 
tence. " In violating the laws of God and man !" said he. " The lion was 
dead that thus received the kick." And Mr. Taylor looked as if he felt the 
application. . The House refused the motion. 

On the 24th, in consequence of the failure of his previous motion, that the 
House should adjourn over to attend the fimeral of the Commodore, he then 
moved that it should then adjourn, for the purpose of enabling such members as 
felt so disposed, to attend at four o'clock that afternoon, the hour appointed. To 
obviate the appearance of any opposition to so reasonable a request, Mr. Holmes 
moved the House do now adjourn, and the motion prevailed. It appeared that 
the report of Mr. Randolph's speech on his first motion, gave him such high 
displeasure, that he was induced on the 28th to offer a resolution for the exclu- 
sion of Gales and Seaton from the hall of the House as reporters. The resolu- 
tion was not urged at the time, in order to afford them an opportimity to furnish 
Mr. Randolph, according to his expressed wish, the name of the person who 
gave the editors the information as the groundwork of his speech. The expla, 
nation they offered in answer to Mr. Randolph's request, was to the effect that 
the report to which he alluded was derived from sources entitled to credit, par- 
ticular care being taken not to impute to him (Mr. R.) any language which may 
be subject to misrepresentation. They added that his speech on the subsequent 
day was reported, and would be submitted to him for revision. They alleged 
also that business caused both their reporters to be absent at the time Mr. Ran- 
dolph addressed the House, and that they obtained their information from some 
of the members on the adjournment of the House. Mr. Randolph was not sat- 
isfied with this apology, but put his resolution to the vote. It found but little 
favor with the House, only eight voting for it, while 140 voted against it. 

SPEECH OF JOHN RANDOLPH ON APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE INDIAN 
DEPARTMENT, JANUARY 4, 1822. 

Mr. Randolph moved to recommit the bill to a committee of the whole House, 
to bring into mature discussion and review the undefined appropriation asked 
for by the Secretary of War. " Unreasonable jealousy of the executive govern- 
ment often led to the opposite extreme, a blind confidence in the governing power. 



84 BIOGRAPHYOP 

From this jealousy and confidence he felt himself to be equally free. He be- 
lieved that this House also was as free from unreasonable jealousy as any reason- 
able body ought to be. In fact, jealousy in public life was like that same ' green- 
eyed monster ' in the domestic circle, which poisoned the source of all social 
happiness. It was extraordinary and yet apparent that the case had occurred 
in which confidence had lost its true character, and taken another which he 
would not name in this House. It was remarkable as well on the other side of 
the Atlantic as this, that a general suspicion had gone abroad, that the depart- 
ment which emphatically holds the purse-strings of the nation, was more re- 
miss than any other in guarding against the expenditure of its subordinate 
agents. If it should be generally and unanswerably understood that the body 
whose duty it is to guard the public treasure from wasteful expenditure, had 
abandoned their trust to a blind confidence in the dispensers of public patronage, 
they must immediately and justly lose all the confidence of the community. 
He had heard yesterday with astonishment a proposition to surrender inquiry to 
a confidence in the integrity and ability in the officer who had made the requi- 
sition. When this House should be disposed to become a mere chamber in 
which to register the edicts, not of the President, but of the heads of depart- 
ments, it would be unimportant whether the members of this House professed to 
represent 35,000 freemen, or collectively the single borough of Sarura. 
This proceeding was to him unprecedented. He had himself once been per- 
sonally acquainted with the proceedings of the Committee of Ways and Means, 
and he had brought in many bills to make partial appropriations — no, not many 
of them, for the business in those days had been so conducted as not to leave 
much room for them — but he had brought in such bills, and supported them 
too, and he would again support such bills when they were necessary. He 
would give to the government his confidence when it was necessary, and he 
would not give it to the government, nor to any man further than that, unless 
to his bosom friend. But there was a wide difference between voting for an 
advance for the service of the current year, and voting for the same svtm to 
cover a deficiency of the past year, under cover of an advance for the present 
year. He wished this bill to be recommitted, that the appropriation might be 
put on its proper footing. While I am up, said he, I will make one remark ; 
that by the best estimate I am able to make, and that estimate has been fortified 
by the remarks that have fallen from others, these Indians cost us on the sys- 
tem of civilisation and conciliation, rather more than if they were black, and 
our property, and working on our estates for our benefit. And this without reci- 
procity ; for though the master be bound for the whole expense of food and rju- 
ment for his servant, he is entitled to the benefit of his services in return. The 
United States ought not to be expected wholly to clothe and feed these people ; 
they ought at least to do some little for themselves. It was astonishing what 
a fondness the people of the frontiers had for having their throats cut. A gen- 
tleman had yesterday told the House that this money for the Indian department 
was to prevent these people from having their throats cut. But what did the 
representatives of the frontier people in this House say ? Why, that they had 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 85 

rather not have the revenue applied for their leUef ; they deprecate your pro- 
tection, and care nothing for your defence." The bill was recommitted. Dur- 
ing the year 1821 the returns of the late census had been made, and in January, 
1822, a ratio of representation was proposed to be fixed upon. With this view, 
on the 7th of the month, Mr. Campbell, as chairman of the subject, reported a 
resolution fixing the ratio at 40,000, based upon the total amount of numbers, 
9,625,734. As Virginia had increased very little in her population, and other 
States had gained large accessions to their numbers, the adoption of the pro- 
posed ratio would cause Virginia to lose a member in the House, and thus the 
sceptre would be transferred from Judah. This thought roused all Mr. Ran- 
dolph's State pride. He could not bear the idea of his State being thus degraded 
to a second, and even a third rank, in point of population. When the appor- 
tionment bill was taken up on the 19th of January, various rates were proposed 
as best suited the views of members of those States who desired to save the 
smallest fractions, from 35,000 up to 75,000, Mr. Tucker of Virginia proposing 
38,000 as the most convenient for Virginia, by leaving to her its present delega- 
tion, and saving the legislature the trouble of making new arrangements of the 
districts. The Committee of the Whole had agreed upon 42,000, which would 
give the House 200 members. 

After Mr. Saiuiders of North Carolma had addressed the House, in a 
maiden speech of one hour's duration, in favor of that ratio, Mr. Randolph 
arose. He said, " it required a very great share of legislative intrepidity for any 
man, and more than he possessed, to attempt to debate any question in regard to 
which there is a moral assurance the majority is decidedly against ycu. The 
few words he had to say on this unpromising subject, would be on a question 
wherein he trusted from present appearances and some other indications he 
should be in the majority ; and that was the question in concuning with the 
Committee of the Whole in their amendment of this bill. He must be permitted 
to state, altogether unimportant as the fact was, that although he had been 
one of the committee to bring in this bill, he had not yet tried any ratio, either 
in the State, one of whose representatives he was, nor in the district which he 
represented, nor in any one county of which the district was composed. It 
would indeed be exceedingly disingenuous in him not to say, that in glancing 
his eye over the table of calculation, he had perceived that one number, he 
believed it was 38,000, would eminently conduce to the advantage of the State 
of Virginia, and that some of the numbers would be extremely injurious to her 
relative weight in this body and in the presidential elections, and consequently 
in her influence on the government of the United States. But while I make 
this declaration, I know it to be as unimportant as the individual who addresses 
you. I cannot enter into the reasoning which goes to show that 200 members, 
or this ratio of 42,000, or what not, is to serve some great political purpose, 
whilst one member more or less, or 1000 in the ratio more or less, would 
produce a calamitous effect. To such prescience which could discover such im- 
portant effects from such causes he had no claim ; but this he would say, it was 
made an objection to the constitution by some of the greatest men this country 



86 BIOGRAPHYOF 

ever produced, and perhaps as great as it ever would produce ; it was, in itself > 
a vital objection to George Mason's putting his hand to the constitution, that the 
representation in Congress was limited, not to exceed one member for every 
30,000 souls ; whilst on the other hand a most unbounded discretion was given 
over the increase of the ratio. It was an objection to the constitution, on the 
part of some of the wisest men this country ever produced. It was an objec- 
tion on the part of Patrick Henry, whose doubts, I need not ask you, Mr. 
Speaker, to recur to — I fear you have been too familiar with them in the 
shape of verified predictions — whose doubts experience has proved to be pro- 
phetic. On a question of this sort, shall we be told of the expense of compen- 
sating a few additional members of this body .' He knew we had, in a civil point 
of view, perhaps the most expensive government under the sun. We had, tak- 
ing one gentleman's declaration, an army of legislators. There was a time, and 
he wished he might live to see it again, when the legislators of the country out- 
numbered the rank and file of the army, and the officers to boot. I wish I may 
see it again. Did any man ever hear of a country ruined by the expense of its 
legislation ? Yes, as the sheep are ruined by so much as is required for the 
nourishment of the dogs. As to the civil list, to pay a host of legislators, is it 
their pay that has run up the national debt .' Is it their pay that produces defal- 
cations of the revenue .' Did mortal man ever hear of a country that was ruined 
by the expense of its civil list, and more especially by the legislative branch of it ? 
He was no believer in actual or modern magic. He gave no credit to Sir Kenehn 
Digby's sympathetic power, or to Plato's visions of the importance of the number 
10. To go by any rule of that sort, some might prefer an odd number ; three, because 
it was the number of the Graces ; nine, because it was that of the Muses : and those 
miserable dupes who adventure in lotteries, generally endeavor to hit on an odd 
number. He could not conceive how it happened that, in a former Congress, 
they had been so blind to the magic of numbers as to overlook the number 100, 
notwithstanding which one of that body signed himself centumvir, as one of the 
number of whom that council was composed. After all the wire-drawn specu- 
lations on this subject, however, we must come down to the suitability — if I 
may use the word — to the fitness of things, as the great philosopher Bacon 
would have said. We must take a number that is convenient for business, and 
at the same time sufficiently great to represent the interests of this great empire- 
This empire, he was obliged to say, for the term republic had gone out of fashion. 
He would warn, not this House, for they stood in no need of it, but the good, 
easy, susceptible people of this country, against the empiricism in politics, against 
the delusion that because a Government is representative, equally representative, 
if you will, it must therefore be free. Government, to be safe and to be free, 
must consist of representatives having a common interest and a common feeling 
with the represented. But, as he believed he would be better understood by an 
example, he would put it. I put a case of the United States entering into ajoint- 
partnership with the Emperor of China, of a political kind, and that they were 
to allow us a representative for every 30,000 souls, claiming for themselves a 
representative for every 100,000 souls. Would a legislative so constituted be 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 87 

fit to govern us ? Certainly not, if the Chinese yet had, as in such a case they 
would have, a majority of the whole number of members. When I hear of 
settlements at the Council Bluffs, and of bills for taking possession of the mouth 
of the Columbia River, I turn, not a deaf ear, but an ear of a different sort to the 
sad vaticination of what is to happen in the length of time : believing, as I do, 
that no Government extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific can be fit to gov- 
ern me, or those whom I represent. There is death in the pot, compound it how 
you will. No such government can exist, because it must want the common 
feeling and common interest with the governed, which is indispensable to its 
existence. Whilst the gentleman from North Carolina was entertaining the 
House, he confessed very much to his satisfaction, he had made a few cursory 
notes, to which, with the leave of the House, he would recur. In answer to 
the argument, that the first House of Representatives consisted of but sLxty-five 
members, Mr. Randolph said he well remembered that House. He saw it often, 
and that very fact was, he said, to him a serious objection to too small a repre- 
sentation on this floor. The truth is, said he, we came out of the old constitu- 
tion m a chrysalis state, under unhappy auspices. The members of the body 
that framed the constitution were second to none in respectability. But they had 
been so long without power, — they had so long seen the evils of a government 
without power, that it begot in them a general disposition to have king Stork 
substituted for king Log. They organized a Congress to consist of a small 
nmnber of members, and what was the consequence ? Every one, in the slight- 
est degree conversant with the subject, must know, that on the first step in any 
government depends, in a great degree, the character and complexion of that 
government. What, I repeat, was the consequence of the then limited number 
of the representative body ? Many, very many, indeed all that could be called 
frmdamental laws were passed by a majority, which, in the aggregate, hardly 
exceeded in number the committee which was the other day appointed to bring 
in the bill now on your table ; and thereby, said he, hangs (not a tale, but) very seri- 
ous ones, which it is improper to open here and now. Among the other blessings 
which we -have received from past legislation, we should not have been sitting 
at this place if there had been a different representation. Those who adminis- 
tered the government were in a hurry to go into the business of legislation 
before they were ready — and here I must advert to what had been said with 
regard to the redundance of debate. For my part, said he, I wish we could 
have done nothing but talk, unless, indeed, we had gone to sleep for many 
years past ; and comciding in the sentiment which had fallen from the gentle- 
man from New York, give me fifty speeches, I care not how dull or how stupidj 
rather than one law on the statute book ; and if I could once see a Congress 
meet and adjourn without passing any act whatever, I should hail it as one of 
the most acceptable omens. I once held this opinion, with the exception of the 
appropriation laws. But as they have of late been executed, which the powers 
that be are not bound to respect, I find we may dispense with them as well as 
with any others." Mr. Randolph then noticed another view which had been 
taken, that the higher numbers were favorable to the smaller States, not only as 



88 15 1 G R A P 11 Y F 

regards their relative influence here, hut especially as regards their influence on 
the elections of President ; he would say nothing of the Vice-President of the 
United States, hecause the llrst was the object to which the eye of t!ie pub- 
lic was generally turned, and of the minor object he had not yet heard spoken. 
Oil this argument, Mr. Randolph made some remarks, importing that he did not 
allow it much weight. "Another member had said that a particular number was 
the best, because it was perfectly fair with regard to Rhode Island. But it was not 
equally so for Delaware, nor perhaps for any other State. What an idea of 
fairness was this ! It was like the address of the blind man upon colors, who 
eaid that the sound of the trumpet was red, because it sounded whenever the 
soldiers marched along, and he had heard they wore red coats. But it seemed, 
acconling lo the argument of another mem])er, unless we have large and pros- 
perous districts, there Avould not be sufficient room to select from each district a 
potent, grave and reverend seigneur to take his scat on this floor. This is like 
saying that unless you create high salaries, you cannot get men to take offices ; 

and yet, make the salaries what you will I will say no more. It seemed, 

too, that any analogy taken from the British House of Commons — which he had 
not heard mged in the only manner in which it could be urged, except that the num- 
bers were not too great to admit of the due exercise of legislative powers — was 
not applicable to the present subject, because that body is composed in a great 
measure of placemen and pensioners. He would not say that he was on this 
occasion reminded of the fable of the fox and the flies, but this he would say, 
that the placeman, snug and warm in his place, or the pensioner secure of 
receiving his quarterly supply, or any one of the number who by indirection 
arrive at the same object, the plunder of the people, was to his view, in every- 
wise as fit, proper, and if he might use the word which he had lately heard on 
this floor for the lirst time, as reliable a representative as the man who is in 
search of a place or pension. But his worthy friend would tell the House that 
this was a description of persons whom, when once the people have ascertained 
their character, they withdraw their confidence from. He hoped it might be so 
hereafter, but there was one misfortune about it, which was that the mischief is 
done before the people find out the true character of their men, and that it is in 
doing this very mischief that their character developes itself. The people can 
shut the stable-door, to be sure, and lock it too, but it is after the steed is gone. 
After all, he feared little impression was to be madg by the terrible array of 
figures before the House, which he had not eyes or brains to encounter by rep- 
resentations of this kind. One thing, however, was certain, that if 187 mem- 
bers were not too many ten years ago, 200 were not too miuiy now. lie did not 
pretend to lay down any rule by which an arithmetician, any more than a geo- 
metrician, could work this problem. It depended on things which are infinitely 
variable, on combinations infinitely diversified, and must be .settled at least by a 
good ])lain common sense, and by no flourishes of the pen or of rhetoric. 

" The case of a State wisely governed by its legislature, that of Connecticut, 
for example," he argued, " would be prei)osterously ajiplied to this government, 
representing as it does more than a million of squai'e miles, and more than 



J II N n A N D O L P II . S9' 

twenty millions of people — for such would ere long be the amount of our 
population. To say that 200 shall be the amount of our representation, and 
then to proportion that number among the States, would be putting the curt be- 
fore the horse, or making a suit of clothes for a man and then taking his measure. 
The number of rejirescntativcs ought to be sufficient to enable the constituent to 
maintain with the representative that relation without which representative 
government was as great a cheat as — transubstantiation, he was going to say — 
as any in priestcraft, kingcraft, or in another craft which, great as the Diana of 
the Ephcsians, he would not name. When I hear it proposed elsewhere to 
limit the numbers of the representatives of the people on this floor, I feel dis- 
posed to return the answer of Agesilaus when the Spartans were asked for 
their arms : ' Come and take them !' (Quere — Was it not Lconidas, at Ther- 
mopylae, on whom this demand was made by Xerxes ?) If you step out of your 
threshold on matters that do not concern you, we have got a Roland for your 
Oliver ; we will increase your number, apportioning it somewhat more to the 
population and wealth of the members of this community. And as the legisla- 
tures are, as we are told, nearly all in session at this time, and the election can 
be readily made, we will reduce your term of service to one year. Tt appeared 
to be the opinion of some gentlemen, who seemed to think that He who made 
the world should have consulted them about it, that our population would go on 
increasing till it exceeded the limits of the theory of our representative govern- 
ment. He remembered a case in which it had been seriously proposed, and by 
a learned gentleman too, that inasmuch as one of his brethren was in- 
creasing his property in a certain ratio, in the course of time it would amount 
by progressive increase to the value of the wliole world, and this man would 
thus become master of the world. These calculations would serve as charades,- 
conundrums, and such matters, calculated to amuse the respectable class (much 
interested in such matters) of old maids and old bachelors, of which Mr. R. 
said he was a most unfortunate member. To this objection, that the number of 
the house would soon become too great, to this bugbear, it was sufficient to 
reply, that when the case occurred it would be time to provide for it. We will 
not take the physic before we are sick, remembering the old Italian epitaph, 
* I was well, I would be better, I took physic, and here I am.' He would not 
have arisen, but from the apparent inconsistency of the vote he was about to 
give with that which lie gave on a like occasion ten years ago. At that time, 
he said, there was no prospect of any such overreaching, aggrandizing spirit on 
the part of the General Government which our wisest men now say they appre- 
hend, and he thought not without reason, and he was no alarmist. On the occa- 
sion now referred to, he had voted, as well as he recollected, for a ratio of 
37,000, and was willing now to go so far as to make the future representation 
bear the same proi)ortion to the present as the present bears to the past. He 
would add one other remark : he would get rid of no difficulty which his past 
political life might put upon him by subterfuge or evasion. He did not call on 
those who had not sinned, to throw the first stone. He called upon those who 
had passed through three-and-twenty years of political life with no greater in- 
9 



90 BIOGRAPHYOF 

consistency, to throw it ; and, said he, pelt on, I can endure it !" The debate 
was continued, upon different proposed ratios, for geveral days longer. 

On the 1st of February, Mr. Randolph again spoke, and proposed a ratio, 
though he admitted without any prospect of success, of 30,000. I shall content 
myself with making a few extracts, or culling some of tlie beauties of the 
speech, and then, with the decision of the House on the final question, dismiss 
the subject. 

" He was in favor of making the House as numerous as the Constitution 
would permit, always keeping within such a number as would not be inconve- 
nient to the House for the transaction of business. For in that respect the 
legislature of a little Greek or Swiss republic might be as numerous as that of 
the Kingdom of Great Britain. The only limit was the capacity to do business 
in one chamber, and it was desirable to have as great a number as would keep 
on this side of a mob. One of the most profound female writers of the present 
age, and perhaps he might amend by striking out the word female, had pointed 
out the superiority of the legislative body of England over that of France, from 
the circumstance that, of the British Parliament, no man is permitted to read a 
speech, but is obliged to pronounce it extempore ; while, in the French Legisla- 
tive Assembly, the rage for making speeches was excited by the usage that any 
member who could manufacture one, or get some one else to do it for him, 
ascended the tribune and delivered, and afterwards published it, — and hence 
their notion that an Assembly of more than 100, if composed of Newtons, 
might be called a mob. The practice in England naturally forced out the abili- 
ties of the House. The speaker was obliged to draw on his own intellectual 
resources, and upon those talents with which Heaven had endowed him. Ta- 
lents descend from heaven — they are the gift of God. No patent of nobility 
can confer them ; and he who had the right, beyond a monarch's power to 
grant, did conduct the public affairs of the country. By the contrary practice, 
according to INIadame de Stael, the French nation was cheated, and men passed 
for more than they were worth. We have been told of corruptions, and of the 
dicta of Sir Robert Walpole. That statesman had been slandered as much as 
any man of modern times. This saying had been ascribed to him, he (Sir 
Robert) always disavowed, although it had served to pull him down, for it was 
easy to put a falsehood into circulation, but difficult to recall it: He said, ' those 
men (alluding to particular persons) had their prices ;' not all men — and it was 
understood that he always excepted William Shippen from it. A gentleman 
from Georgia had feared a large ratio would introduce an oligarchy. But it 
would be recollected that our Government, in its head, was monarchical. It was 
useless to quarrel about words, for such is the fact ; and, as some writers* say, 
not the best form of monarchy, the elective ; but on this he would express no 
opinion. There was another body that was oligarchical, the senate, and 
an oligarchy of the worst sort, for the representatives of the State sovereignties 

* The celebrated Godwin, who, in speaking of the Presidency of the United 
States, remarks, " Still monarchy has one refuge left !" See his Enquirer. 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 91 

were not revocable by them. What would become of the House of Representa- 
tives if the whole rays of Executive influence were to be concentrated upon it .' 
ft would be consumed, or, like a diamond under a lens, would evaporate. 
Nevertheless, there were dull speeches delivered in the Houses of Parliament as 
well as here. Witness those of Mr. Fuller, or of Mr. Drake. This was one of those 
cases in which the maxim, de mortwis nil nisi bonum, did not hold. He com- 
plained of the growth of the contingent expenses of the House, which had been 
incurred for the accommodation of the members, in a profusion of stationery, easy 
arm-chairs, and a mass of printeddocuments that nobody reads ! These accommo- 
dations, like those at banks, did no good to those who made use of them. He 
believed that an increased ratio would be one of the means of getting rid of these 
inciunbrances." 

The ratio M-as fixed at 40,000, and on the 6th of February, that powerful 
lever of legislation, the previous question, was put and carried. The bill was 
read a third time, and on the main question — Shall the bill pass ? — it was car- 
ried in the alFumative, by 100 ayes to 55 noes — Mr. Randolph among the latter. 
I had emitted to add, that two days previous to the final passage of the bill, Mr, 
Randolph spoke the third time on it, and it was on that occasion that he spoke 
■SO sensitively of the departing greatness of his native State, by fixing the ratio at 
40,000, and the rapid strides of New York and Pennsylvania in population. 
After proceeding some time, he observed : " I confess that I have (and I am not 
ashamed to own it) an hereditary attachment to the State which gave me birth . 
I shall act upon it as long as I act upon this floor, or anywhere else. I shall 
feel it when 1 am no longer capable of action anywhere. But I beg gentlemen to 
bear in mind, if we feel the throes and agonies which they impute to us at the sight 
of our departing power, there is something in fallen greatness, though it be in the 
person of a despot, something to enlist the passions and feelings of men even 
against their reason — Bonaparte himself beheved he had those who sympathized 
with him. But if such be our condition, if we are really so extremely sensitive 
on this subject, do not gentlemen recollect the application of another received 
maxim in regard to sudden, I will not say upstart elevation, that some who are 
once set on horseback know not, nor care not, which way they ride .' He was 
a man of peace. With Bishop Hall, I take no shame to myself for making 
overtures of pacificatiort, when I have unwittingly ofTended. But, sir, I cannot 
permit, whatever liberties may be taken with me, I cannot permit any that may 
be taken with the State of Virginia to pass unnoticed on this floor. I hope the 
notice which I shall always take of them will be such as not only becomes a 
member of this House, but the dignity of that ancient State." 

On Monday, the 25th of Febmary, Mr. Randolph got himself into an awk- 
ward situation, by announcing prematurely the death of William Pinckney, a 
senator from Maryland, and a distinguished jurist and orator. He had, it seemed, 
obtained the information from one of the judges of the Supreme Court, who 
came in while the House was in session, and gave the information to Mr. Ran- 
dolph as coming from a gentleman of the bar, who told him he had seen the 
corpse. After delivering a handso.me eulogium upon Mr. Pinckney, on his mo- 



92 BIOGRAPHYOF 

tion the House adjourned, out of respect for the sujjposed deceased. As soon 
as the journal was read the next morning, Mr. Randolph got up and apologized 
to the House for having led them into the error, and moved that the entry 
referred to on the journal be expunged, which, by unanimous consent, was 
agreed to. Mr. Pinckney, however, died the same night, and both Houses 
adopted the usual resolutions of wearing crape and attending his funeral. Mr. 
Randolph's address, bemg entirely extemporaneous and sudden, was so eloquent 
and happy that I cannot avoid inserting it here. 

He arose to announce to the House the death of a man who filled the first 
place in public estimation, in the first profession in that estimation, in this or 
any other country. " We have been talking of General Jackson, and a greater 
man than he is not here, but gone for ever ! 1 allude, sir, to the boast of Mary- 
land, and the pride of the United States — the pride of us all, and particularly 
the pride tuid ornament of that profession of which you, Mr. Speaker (Stephen- 
son), aie a member, and an eminent one. He was a man with whom I lived 
when a member of this House, and a new one too — and ever since he left it for 
the other — I speak it with pride, in habits, not merely negatively friendly, but of 
kindness and cordiality. The last time I saw him was on Saturday, the last Satur- 
day but one, in the pride of life and full possession and vigor of all his faculties, 
in that lobby. He is now gone to his account (for as the tree falls so it must lie), 
where we must all go; where I must soon go, and by the same road too, — the 
course of nature, and where all of us, put off the evil day as long as we may, 
must also soon go. For what is the past but as a span, and which of us can 
look forward to as many years as we have lived ? The last act of intercourse 
betAveen us was an act, the recollection of which I would not now be without 
for all the offices that all the men of the United States have filled or ever shall 
fill. He had, indeed, his faults, his foibles ; I should rather say, sins. Who is 
without them ? Let such, and such only, cast the first stone. And these foi- 
bles, faults if you will, which everybody could see, because everybody is 
clear-sighted with regard to the faults and foibles of others, he, I have no doubt, 
would have been the first to acknowledge on a proper representation of them. 
Everything now is hidden to us— not, God forbid ! — that utter darkness rests 
upon the grave, which, hideous as it is, is lighted, cheered, and warmed with 
light from Heaven ; not the impious fire fabled to be stolen from heaven by the 
heatheji, but by the Spirit of the living God, whom we all profess to worship, 
and whom I hope we shall spend the remainder of the day in worshipping, not 
with mouth honor, but in our hearts, in spirit and in truth ; that it may not be 
said of us also, ' This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and hon- 
oreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.' Yes, it is just so, he 
is gone. I will not say that our loss is irreparable, because such a man as has 
existed may exist again. There has been a Homer, there has been a Shakspeare ; 
there has been a Milton, there has been a Newton. There may be another 
Pinckney, but there is none now. And it was to annoimce this event that I 
have risen. 1 am (said Mr. Randolph) almo.st inclined to believe in presenti- 
ments. I have been all along as well assured of the fatal termination of that 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 93 

•disease with which he was afflicted as I am now, ami I have dragged my weary 
limbs before sun-rise to the door of his sick chamber (for I would not intrude 
upon the sacred grief of the family) almost every morning since his illness 
From the first I had almost no hope." 

Mr. Randolph concluded by moving that the House now adjourn, which mo- 
tion was unanimously agreed to. IVIr. Randolph was not only premature in 
announcing this event, but in occupying the place of some member from Mary- 
land. The mournful lot should, by courte.sy, have fallen to John Nelson, as the 
youngest member. He betrays also some portion of his prevalent failing or foi- 
ble, affectation, in stopping in the majestic march of his grief to show his learn- 
ing by telling us about Promethean fire being stolen from heaven, when he .and 
his audience should have been in the melting mood, could his feelings have been 
strong enough to have burst open his fountain of tears. Si vis me fiere, dolen- 
duvi est primum ipsi tibi. He assumes the novel and unusual character of preach- 
er, quotes texts of Scripture, exhorts his honorable congregation in the Apostohc 
precept, to worship God in spirit and in truth, to which exhortation the mem- 
bers paid about as much obedience as if it came from the pulpit. 'Tis more to 
the manner we object than to the matter of the address, which, upon the whole, 
is worthy the orator or his subject ; one portion of it, indeed, challenges our ad- 
miration and praise, where he speaks of a Homer, a Shakspeare, a Mihon, a 
Newton, that have once appeared, and concludes that there may be another 
Pinckney, " but there is none now." We have here a most beautiful climax, 
ending in a sublime burst of sorrow. 

The Supreme Court also entered into the spirit of grief for the death of Mr. 
Pinckney, and on motion of 'Mr. Harper of Baltimore, formerly a member of 
Congress from South Carolina, adjourned for the purpose of paying their last 
tribute to his remains, by attending them from the place of his death. The Bar 
also, on the motion of Mr. Clay, agreed to attend his funeral and wear crape on 
the left arm as a token of their respect for his memory. 

We may be here excused for recurring to the cause of Mr. Pinckney's death, 
which has been of such frequent occurrence among leading professional gentle- 
men of the bar, as to deserve the investigation of learned pathologists in gene- 
ral. At the conclusion of a long and very powerful argument, he fell, appa- 
rently lifeless, as if by an apoplectic stroke, was carried to his quarters insensi- 
ble, and never spoke intelligibly afterwards. Mr. Harper followed soon after 
in a similar way, at the Baltimore Bar, and General Winder also, a distinguished 
advocate at the same Bar, fell suddenly and expired in the midst of an argument. 
We have had some instances in this city, in the persons of Thomas Addis Em- 
mett and James Wells, of a sudden termination of their mortal career in the midst 
of their loftiest forensic efforts. I have witnessed at a Court in my native State 
the ablest pleader fall dead at the conclusion of an animated and powerful ar- 
gument. WTiether these sudden deaths are caused by the flow of blood to the 
arteries of the brain by being stimulated with high excitement of the cerebral 
■organs, so as to cause rupture, from collapse of the heart or lungs, or from ex- 
haustion, we leave to the determination of the faculty, merely relating a fact in 
9* 



94 BIOGRAPHYOF 

pathology too remarkable to omit. Anotlier fact nearly as remarkable, we 
never hear of such sudden disasters among the clergy, although their mental 
and physical powers are equally tasked. Having asked the cause of this ex- 
emption of a worthy divine, he said he presumed it was only a fulfilment of the 
Scriptures that " the wicked shall fall and the righteous shall stand," applying 
his biblical solution of the phenomenon, no doubt, to the whole class of the 
legal profession, and not to these bright ornaments in particular. 

HIS ELECTION TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Randolph was elected senator in Congress, on December 17, 1825. 
Among the candidates nominated, was Judge Henry St. George Tucker, his 
half-brother, by the mother's side ; William B. Giles, and Dr. John Floyd were 
recommended, and each had his advocates in the legislative body. On the iirst 
ballot, the vote stood. Tucker 65, Randolph 63, Giles 58, Floyd 40. Accord- 
ing to the rule of the House Mr. Floyd was dropt, and the second ballot stood, 
Tucker 87, Randolph 79, Giles 60. Mr. Giles being likewise dropt under the 
rules, and the members having prepared and deposited their ballots in the 
boxes, Mr. Jackson, on the part of the friends of Mr. Tucker, rose and stated 
to the House, that it was the desire of Mr. Tucker in no event to be placed in 
competition with Mr Randolph. Considering that Mr. R. had no chance of 
being elected, they had, on their own responsibility, put Mr. Tucker in nomina- 
tion. But as the collision was now between these two gentlemen, they thought 
it due to Mr. Tucker's request and feelings to withdraw his name. Some con- 
versation then ensued, in which it was suggested that the ballot boxes ought to 
be emptied and the ballots again collected. Mr. Jackson declared he did not 
know the ballots had been put in the boxes, or he should have withdrawn Mr. 
Tucker sooner. One gentleman remarke'd, that the person who had been last 
dropt, ought, under these circumstances, to be again before the House. But 
the chair decided, that as the ballots had all been deposited in the boxes, and 
there being no mistake or irregularity, they must be counted under the rule of 
the House. This was accordingly done, and the ballots stood, Randolph 104, 
Tucker 80. Mr. Randolph having a majority, was declared duly elected. 
Had not the friends bf Mr. Tucker withdrawn him, it appears from this pro- 
ceeding he would have been elected, because 42, who voted on the first 
ballot, did not vote on the last, and Mr. R's majority being only 24, while all 
his friends voted. As he retained his seat in the Senate only two years, he 
must have been elected to supply the place of a Senator who had resigned or 
died, for the balance of his term. Having given some of his speeches while in 
that body, as likewise others of a convivial nature during his visit to England 
while a Senator, we may here give the final termination of his senatorial career, 
to round off this short period of his legislative course. By his indiscriminate 
abuse of the administration, his personalities, and his extravagant behavior on 
the floor of the Senate, he lessened in no small degree the dignity of that body, 
and rendered himself unpopular in his own State, particularly to his political 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 95 

creators, the members of the legislature. At their session of January the 18th, 
1827, a committee of five members, Linn Banks at the head of it, wrote the 
following note to the governor, John Tyler. 

" Sir : We understand that the friends of the administration and others will 
support you for the Senate in opposition to Mr. Randolph. We desire to 
understand distinctly whether they have your consent or not : and if not, will 
you be pleased to say, whether you will abandon the chair of state at this time 
to accept a seat in the Senate." 

To which Mr. Tyler replied by note as follows : — 

" Gentlemen : Your note handed to me last night by Mr. Goode, in which 
you say, ' understanding that the friends of the administration and others will 
support you for the Senate in opposition to Mr. Randolph, you desire to under- 
stand distinctly whether they have my consent, or not ; and if not, request me to 
say whether I will not abandon the chair of state at this time, to accept a seat 
in the Senate,' deserves and shall have a candid reply. Let me premise that I 
am unacquainted with the political preferences of those disposed to sustain me 
for the Senate. Suffice it to say, that my political opinions on the fundamental 
principles of the government are the same with those espoused by Mr. Randolph, 
and I admire him most highly for his undeviating attachment to the constitution, 
manifested at all times, and through all the events of a long political Ufe ; and 
if any ma;i votes for me under a different persuasion, he most grievously de- 
ceives himself. Yon ask me whether I have yielded my consent to oppose him. 
On the contrary, I have constantly opposed myself to all solicitations. I desire most 
earnestly to be left at peace. There is no motive which could induce me to 
seek to change my present situation for a seat in the Senate at this time. I 
cannot admit that to be one in a body of forty-eight members is to occupy a 
more elevated station than that presented in the chief magistracy of Virginia. 
My private interests, intimately connected with the good of my family, are 
more highly sustained by remaining where 1 am, than by the talked-of change. 
There is then no consideration, public or private, which could lead me to desire 
it. From the first to the last, every^vhere and to all with whom I have con- 
versed, this has been my uniform language. Your last inquiry is one, which, 
urged by those who felt disposed to sustain me, I have constantly declined 
answering. Propriety and a due regard to consistency of deportment require 
me to decline an answer now. Should the office, in opposition to my wishes (a 
result which I cannot anticipate), be conferred upon me , I shall then give to the 
expression of the legislative will such reflection and pronounce such decision as 
mjf sense of what is due to it may seem to require. These explanations might 
have been had by each and all of you, gentlemen, verbally if you had sought to 
have attained them in that way, Avhich might possibly have discovered a greater 
degree of confidence in me. But as they are now given, you are at liberty to 
use them in any mode you please, reserving to myself a similar privilege. 
" With sentiments of proper respect, 

" Your obedient servant, 

" To Messrs. Banks and others." (Signed), « JOHN TYLER." 



96 BIOGRAPHYOP 

Mr. Tyler was elected by a majority of ten votes over Mr. Randolph, and 
upon being notified of the result by the clerks of the two Houses, he signified 
his acceptance of the office in a letter under date the 18th of January. 

George W. Crump, being then in his seat in Congress as the represen- 
tative of the district, immediately on receiving the news, wrote a letter to his 
constituents, withdrawing his own name from the list of candidates for the 
ensuing election, in April, 1828, and joining with Mr. Randolph's other friends 
in bringing forward their old and favorite representative. Mr. R. was accord- 
ingly elected without opposition. 

JOHN RANDOLPH'S SPEECH AT A DINNER GIVEN TO HIM IN RICHMOND, IOtH 

MARCH, 1827. 

On his arrival at Richmond from Washington on the 8th, several members of 
the Legislature and the citizens felt desirous of manifesting their respect by giv- 
ing him a public dinner. They addressed to him the following letter : — 

" Sir : We take great pleasure in complying with the wishes of a number 
of the members of the Legislature and citizens of Richmond, to ask the favor of 
your company to a dinner at the Eagle Hotel, to-morrow, at 5 o'clock, as the 
best mode they can adopt to evince the high sense they entertain of your distin- 
guished public services, luid firmness in maintaining the principles of the Con- 
stitution, and resisting the mischievous measures of an infatuated administra- 
tion. 

" With great respect, your obedient servants, 
(Signed), "GEORGE LOYAL, 

" G. C. DROMGOOLE, and others." 

To which Mr. Randolph returned the following answer : — 

" Gentlemen : The feebleness of my health admonishes me of the impru- 
dence I commit in accepting your very kind and flattering invitation, but I am un- 
able to practise the self-denial which prudence would impose. 1 have only to 
offer my profound acknowledgments for an honor to which I am sensible of no 
claim on my part except the singleness of purpose with which I have endeavor- 
ed to uphold our common principles, never more insidiously and vigorously as- 
sailed than now, and never more resolutely defended and asserted. 
f " I am, gentlemen, your obedient and faithful servant, 

(Signed), " JOHN RANDOLPH, of Roanoke. 

"To George Loyal, and others." 

About one hundred sat down to the table. Lynn Banks officiated as presi- 
dent, B. W. Leigh as vice-president, and the utmost harmony prevailed. After 
the regular toasts were drunk, the following toast was given : — 

" John Randolph of Roanoke, the constant defender of the principles of the 
Constitution, the fearless opponent of a mischievous administration." 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 97 

Mr. Randolph arose and said, that he had only his poor thanks to offer for 
the honor, as distinguished as unmerited, which liad been conferred upon him. 
He knew that of late years it had become a practice, that the person thus select- 
ed as the object of distinction and hospitality, should make his acknowledg- 
ments in a set speech. But as a plain and old-fashioned Virginian, it was, he 
must be permitted to say, a custom more honored in the breach than the observ- 
ance. He felt assured that no declaration of his principles was called for on the 
occasion. It would, indeed, be too severe a tax upon the courtesy of that intelli- 
gent auditory, for him to attempt to gloss over what he had done or omitted to do. 
He did not expect them to judge of those principles from any declarations that 
he might see fit to make, instead of inferring them from the acts of his public life, 
which had commenced in the last century and had terminated but a few days 
ago. He concluded by drinking the health of the company, and wishing to the 
members of the Assembly a safe and happy return to their families, their friends 
and their constituents. 

On the 15th of April, Mr. Randolph received an. invitation from the citizens 
of Prince Edward Coimty, to a dinner to be given at the Court House, among 
whom were Doctor G. W. Cruness, the late member of Congress ; to which 
Mr. Randolph sent the following answer : — 

" Roanoke, 10th April, 18^7. 
" Gentlemen : Your very kind and flattering invitation found me confined by 
a painful and distressing disease, which only leaves me power to express my 
sense of the honor done me, and my regret at being unable to partake of the 
hospitality and festivity of my Prince Edward friends, to whom I am bound by 
every tie that can unite me to the kindest and most indulgent constituents that 
ever man had. 

" I am, gentlemen, your faithful servant, 

« JOHN RANDOLPH, of Roanoke." 

Mr. Randolph was re-elected without opposition, but scarcely attended at all 
the two or three succeeding sessions. In that of 1829 his health was very 
infirm, though he attended at the seat of government, and took up his old quar- 
ters at Dowson's, No. 2. He rode out almost daily on horseback, and the only 
time I noticed him in his seat was toward the close of the session, upon the 
passage of the Cumberland Road bill, which authorised the erection of toll- 
gates and the collection of tolls by officers appointed by the United States. He 
arose to speak on its final passage, but being informed the previous question had 
been taken, he sat down, and contented himself with publishing what he meant 
to say, and which, though short, was characteristic, and concluded by declaring 
the clause in relation to the toll-gates a nuisance, and calling upon his State to 
abate it. She was not driven to that dangerous extremity, however, as the act 
did not pass the Senate. 

In 1830 Mr. Randolph was appointed by General Jackson, Minister to 
Russia. When the news of this appointment was first circulated among the 
members of Congress in May, they felt disposed to receive it with incredulity 



98 BIOGRAPHYOF 

and ridicule, and it required stronger evidence than the declaration oi the first 
informers, though classed among the honorable, to enlist their assent.* In June 
he arrived at Norfolk for the purpose of embarking for Liverpool in the U. S. 
ship Concord. While at Norfolk, he received an invitation to a public dinner, 
at which, his health being proposed, he made a speech, in which he deprecated 
the idea of receiving the people's money without rendering an equivalent in ser- 
vice, and assured the audience that the pocketing the mere pittance of the outfit 
was no inducement to his accepting the trust. That re infedd aut facta, as he 
was sent on a special mission, and not as minister resident, home he should 
return. 

On the 28th he sailed from Norfolk, arrived at Liverpool on the 20th of July, 
and proceeded to London with his Secretary of Legation, John Randolph Clay, 
the son of his old friend, the honorable Joseph Clay of Philadelphia, who was 
a member of Congress in the sessions of 1804 to 1808. He visited his place of 
destination, St. Petersburgh, the September following, and was presented to the 
Emperor and Empress by M. Poletica, who was an old acquaintance from having 
resided at Washington as minister. He produced his credentials, but, in the 
course of a week or so, he demanded his passports, and on the plea of infirmity 
and the apprehended severity of the climate, started for England, leaving Mr. 
Clay, a youth of only twenty years, as Charge d' Affaires. It appeared after- 
wards, upon his exhibiting his correspondence with the government, that he had 
stipulated for the privilege of visiting the South of France, and his original in- 
structions authorized him to leave the court of the Emperor should his health 
require it, and the affairs of the mission admit of his temporary absence. During 
his short stay at St. Petersburgh he was thought to be insane, which his speedy 
flight, or hegira, seemed to confirm. His presentation to the Emperor and his 
royal consort is described as furnishing ridiculous scenes, from his stiange ap- 
pearance, and that the latter could not restrain her risible propensities. He is 
said to have shown his private papers, his correspondence with the President 
and Secretary of State, urging him to accept the appointment. That appoint- 
ment, indeed, surprised his very friends, as well as those who knew that it 
was not in his disposition to confine himself to the serious business of the post. 
Upon his return to England, he despatched his servant Juba to Boston, in the 
ship Fame, who arrived there in November with thirteen packages of his mas- 

• The contradiction between his professions and his acts never appeared more 
glaring than in his acceptance of this appointment. In one of his previous 
speeches he asks, " Was it office ? What, sir ! to drudge in the laboratories of 
the departments, or to be at the tail of the corps diplomatique ia Europe ! Alas, 
sir, in my condition a cup of cold water would be more acceptable. I shall retire 
upon my resources. I will go back to the bosom of my constituents, and shall I 
give them up for this — and for what ? For the heartless amusement and vapid 
pleasures and tarnished honors of this abode of splendid misery, or shabby splen- 
dor, for a clerkship in the war office, or a foreign mission, to dance attendance 
abroad instead of at home." 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 99 

ter's private effects. He jocosely himself recited his interview with the Em- 
press, with all its laughable circumstances, and informed Captain Turner of the 
Concord, that he had abandoned the Russian mission, and should return home in 
the fall. lie laid his last commands upon Juba before he left Liverpool, to have 
him buried under an old oak tree on his farm of Roanoke, with his face looking 
westward ; for should he die in England or on his return, he would have his 
corpse preserved in spirits and sent home for that purpose. 

He showed his correspondence in London, the first letter being from General 
Jackson, inquiring whether he would accept the mission to Russia. The second 
is the reply pf ]^j- Randolph, that he would accept it only on condition that he 
should stay in Russia no longer than he might find it convenient ; the other 
portion of time to be spent in the South of Europe. The third letter was from 
Mr. Van Buren, written immediately after, confirming the appointment on the 
terms proposed, and placing a sloop of war at his fhsposal, to transport him 
wherever he should direct. He rehirned home within the diplomatic year, set- 
tled his accounts at the seat of government, received all the arrears of his sala- 
ry (the outfit he had already pocketed), which took every cent of the appropria- 
tion — returned home, and was announced for Congress at the succeeding elec- 
tion of April, 1831.* 

We did not insert the whole of his speech on the Panama question in the 
Senate, in 1826, on account of its great length ; but one passage in it, we think, 
deserves a place here, on account of its wit. After talking around the question 
for hours, he remarked that " England had laid duties by way of bounty on the 
produce of her slave population in Jamaica, and the West Indies generally, to 
the amount of eight or ten millions of dollars a year, that their masters may not 
run avmj from their slaves or starve with thcm.^' 

The same speech, on the Panama question, which was dehvered on the 1st 
of March, denounced the South American States, among other transgressions, 
for their folly in abolishing slavery. The speech was published the May fol- 
lowing in the Alvarado Mercury of Mexico. The editor says, " Mr. Ran- 
dolph, will obtain the highest encomiums at Madrid, abusing the privileges 
nobly and wisely granted by free nations to their representatives. He insults, 
quite at his ease, and in the most slanderous and malignant manner, the new 
republics of America, whose sacrifices and zeal merit applause and respect. Let 
the North Americans who reside among us speak to the confusion of this man, 
and tell whether we are ' lunatics and fools.' Fools and great fools must we 
be, when we shall appoint a John Randolph a senator." 

In May, 1826, after delivering two or three speeches, he passed through Bal- 

• " The question of his accounts and allowances was bi'ought before Congress 
on the 12th of January, when the House by a vote of 95 to ^1 refused the call for 
a detailed statement of the claims and payments made to John Randolph as 
minister for Russia, but resident in England. The belief was, that while in Eng- 
land he charged the difference in exchange on tlie drafts he made on the Treasu- 
ry, with some other extravagant items." — Niles's Reg., vol. vii., p. 74, 



100 BIOGRAPHYOF 

timore on his way — somewhere as the wind blows — perhaps to England, where 
it was proposed to send Hamlet, and for the same reason, for he could tell a 
hawk from a handsaw, and probably could see as deep into a mill-stone as 
his prototype, and there was as much method in his madness. Before 
he left Washington, he found himself involved in a quarrel with Mr. Clay, as 
another ill consequence of that unfortunate Panama speech, which provoked 
the enmity equally of nations and individuals. The meeting took place the 8th 
of April, across the Potomac, at half past four in the afternoon ; and as we have 
previously given an account, though a brief and imperfect one of it, we will now 
merely a Id one incident, which did not then occur to us, that while the parties 
were at their appointed stations, and the pistol of Mr. Randolph was hanging 
by his side (being a hair trigger, the use of which he had objected to), it went 
off. It was soon perceived to be an accident, and so pronounced by Mr. Clay. 
After exchanging shots, and receiving Mr. Clay's second fire. Without injury, 
Mr. Randolph fired his in the air, declaring that he would not fire at Mr. Clay ; 
they simultaneously approached each other, shook hands, and the affair then 
honorably and happily closed. 

Mr. Randolph arrived at Liverpool in July following, where he excited con- 
siderable attention. His person, his dress^ and his conversation, were carefully 
(hlated to satisfy public curiosity concerning him. At a public dinner given by 
the corporation of Liverpool to Mr. Huskisson, and to which Mr. Randolph was 
invited. Mr. H., after complimenting the mayor on the presence of one who 
had been the ardent and efficient advocate of all that was morally and politically 
good in his own country, and who entertained the most friendly feelings towards 
England, propo.«ed the health of Mr. Randolph." Mr. R., on rising to return 
thanks, said, " that those who had experienced the sensations of a man suffer- 
ing from a protracted and uneasy voyage, and the privations incidental, on his 
arrival at the wished-for shore, might form a small estimate of his, when he saw 
the British land. But they could not appreciate his feelings, on the change from 
all that is uncomfortable and cheerless to the animated and social reception he 
had met with since his arrival in Liverpool." Mr. R., in a chaste and appropri- 
ate manner, expatiated on the blessings we here enjoy, and which are fostered 
and protected by the ablest ministers this country ever had. He said he could 
never distinguish between the interests of America and England. Whatever 
was beneficial to Liverpool could not but be highly useful to New York. The 
interests of the cotton planter and the cotton spinner were one and the same. 
The tobacco planter in America and the merchant and manufacturer in England 
who converted that plant into a source of industry and wealth, had but a com- 
mon interest. After assuring the company that he felt proud of having English 
blood in his veins, in concluding, he proposed the Town and trade of Liverpool. 
Mr. Randolph also gave the following toast: — England and America, the 
mother and daughter. He afterwards attended Mr. Huskisson in an aquatic ex- 
cursion in one of the steam packets. His health was again proposed by Mr. 
Huski.sson, no doubt to gratify the persons present by hearing him make a 
speech, which he did, lauding the parent country and its institutions, and con- 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 101 

stitulion, and promising to hold in grateful remembrance the kindness shown to 
him — all which were duly applauded. In conclusion, he gave by their leave, 
as a toast — ^" their o\\ti Liverpool ; not the town of which they were so justly 
proud — not its trade, to which they daily toasted its prosperity— not its distin- 
guished and talented representative (Mr. H.) whose recent election did honor to 
their choice, — but their noble Earl, the great and gifted man at the head of the 
administration." (Great applause.) 

The papers say that he talked incessantly, and instmcted as well as delighted 
the company. Among others of his sayings, were these. On one occasion 
he was cheered, and he said, " gentlemen, Old England and Young America, 
xmited for ever ! Who shall divide them ?" Loud cheers followed, and the band 
struck up " Yankee Doodle." An Irishman asked Mr. Randolph what would 
be the best cure for the miseries of Ireland. I will give it you in the words of 
the Bible—" Muzzle not the ox that treadeth out the corn." The Irish peasant is 
deprived of his due share of the fruits of the earth. Another gentleman observed, 
that he did not think Mr. Cobbett qualified to sit in the House of Commons. — 
«' Cobbett not qualified to sit in the House of Commons .■■ Why, he has quah- 
fied himself for a seat in that House, as a lady of easy virtue qualifies herself 
for the Magdalen Asylum, by a life of prostitution to all parties, and faithful to 
none." Speaking of man, Mr. R. said, " he was naturally ignorant, and all 
3^our contrivances of Church aud State are, that A may be idle, while B works. 
Talking of property, the sage said, ' society cannot exist without property.' If 
in political revolutions property be divorced from power, power will soon go in 
search of property. A reaction then ensues. Property then goes in search of 
power, and they become once more united. In all State revolutions (said he), 
-endeavor to keep down the dregs of society. You can easily blow away the 
froth, but once you let the dregs get uppermost, depend upon it, that the draught 
will be, not blue, but ' black ruin.' " A gentleman was inquiring about the 
State of Virginia. " Why (said Mr. R.) we vote for representatives viva voce, 
on freehold suffrage, and we Virginians would as soon have our noses taken off, 
as change the mode of voting by ballot." " Then, sir, your mode of voting is 
the same with England." " Aye, to be sure," said Mr. R. " Have we not been 
steering upon the same course ever since we left you .' without tacking or taking 
in sail, only we have thrown the King overboard, — God bless him !" He went 
on longer in this style, and his conversation is represented as so fascinating, that 
he could with difficulty escape the crowd that accompanied him. His dress is 
described also, consisting of a blue coat, yellow silk neckcloth, and blue trousers. 
The Liverpool paper terras him a Senator from the sister kingdom. He had 
taken his passage to Liverpool from Philadelphia, in the ship Alexander, 
Captain G. Baldwin, with whom he had a falling out, which accounts for his 
voyage being so disagreeable. The cause of the quarrel is said to have arisen 
from Mr. R.'s holding a conversation, late at night, with the mate, while the 
Captain was below, on the 5th of June. Mr. Randolph wro^e a letter to a 
friend in New York, describing his treatment by the Captain on that occasion, 
which he characterized as an abrupt and rude reprimand, /or daring to violate 
10 



102 BIOGRAPHYOF 

the discipline of the ship by speaking to the officer on watch. Mr. Randolph 
threatened to hold the Captain responsible, when they arrived at Liverpool, but 
qualified the expression as meant to the oMniers, and not personally to himseli. 
The Captain threatened in turn to hold Mr. Randolph personally responsible, 
as soon as they got on shore, to which Mr. R. replied, that barKing dogs never 
bite. Mr. Randolph's letter was published in the National Gazette, which meet- 
ing the eye of the Captain, drew from him a long answer, in very angry terms. 
He commenced by complaining of Mr. R.'s irritable temper from the time of his 
stepping on board the ship at Newcastle, till the explosion took place. He 
charges Mr. R. with having refused to pay his fare on board the steamboat from 
Philadelphia, giving as an excuse that he was taken to the city against his will, 
and that the owners were bound to place him on board, free of expense ; and 
further, the Captain states, rather than be detained, on account of this dispute, 
the passengers paid the money. There is also a good deal said about the dog 
and the duel, the particulars of which are not given, and which the Captain said 
was not fully correct, though it is true, that in the affair of the dog, between him- 
self and a passenger, Mr. R. did ask his permission to take the animal with him, 
and he consented. As to the duel, that Mr. R. did display his pistols on deck 
with a view of intimidation, the ofTender being a passenger in the garb of a 
"Quaker. The Captain's letter is full of recrimination, but is too long to give 
entire. Some of his charges were, that Mr. Randolph was full of murmuring 
and fault-finding, vulgar, abusive, and so obscene, that two of the passengers 
who had families on board, desired to have a separate table. The Captain as- 
eured them that if he did not mend his manners, he should have another apart- 
ment and table to himself, but that upon Mr. R.'s obtaining some hint of the 
Captain's determination, he changed his conduct, and became more orderly the 
rest of the voyage. He concludes by ascribing Mr. R.'s conduct to insanity or 
the use of drink. I do not vouch for the truth of all the Captain's statement, as 
from his great provocation, and the bias of his feelings, he may have given to it 
too high a coloring. But from Mr R.'s irritable disposition, and his dispute 
with a passenger on another occasion, an honest Dutch captain, whom he 
wished to have thrown overboard, we may conclude that it was in the main 
not far from the truth. Mr. R. remained in England till the November follow- 
ing, and he returned to New York early in December, and took his departure for 
Washington to attend his seat in the Senate. It was during this session, " he 
was in the vein," and was seized with the cacoethes loqiiendi, during which he 
occupied so disproportionate a term of the session. 

Wq may be permitted to mention here, though not in the order of time, that 
during the recess, in July, 1829, he was elected one of the members of the con- 
vention that met soon afterwards at Richmond to form a new constitution. In 
a speech to the electors on the day of their meeting, he declared that he had drawn 
the sword and thrown away tlie scabbard ; that all changes were not improve- 
ments, and that it never was known that the people ever improved their govern- 
ment by change ! On the right of suffrage, he said the non-freeholders talked about 
physical force : but beSore he would consent to extend to them the right to tax his 



JOHN RANDOLPH. lO'S 

land and slaves, he would give them a fight. He was opposed, as it appeared, 
to the introduction of every clause in the new constitution (but which were in- 
serted nevertheless) based upon true republican principles, and many of his con- 
stituents, upon more mature reflection, expressed regret at his election to the 
convention. He was there a silent observer of their proceedings, and only 
spoke once, in answer to Chapman Johnson, in which he compared his puny 
attack upon the positions taken by Judge Marshall to an attempt to capture Gi- 
braltar with a pistol. In an address to the people of the same county some 
years before, about 1822, he stated that the election of General Jackson to the 
presidency need not be dreaded, as it could, in no event, possibly occur. "The 
people of the United States have not become so corrupt as to choose a man of 
military talents to govern the national councils in opposition to Mr. Crawford, 
or, indeed, to any other good man in the coimtry." In the Senate in 1826, on 
the judiciary bill, he said, " I shall vote for General Jackson at the next elec- 
tion, whoever else shall be nominated. He is the first military man in the 
country." In April, 1833, he attended the Newmai'ket races at Petersburg, 
where, in an address to the party at the Jockey Club dinner, we discover an- 
other backward somerset, and he is again found in the ranks of the enemies of 
his late friend the General, notwithstanding the signal official favor he had con- 
ferred on him, and for which the President had suffered no small share of con- 
tumely and reproach. The papers stated that he trod the wine-press of wrath, 
and, ranging through society from the highest to the lowest, he struck down 
moral and political offenders on the right and left, even as Achilles the flying 
squadrons of Troy. He might have been more fitly compared to Ajax in the 
midst of the flock of sheep, which he, in one of his mad fits, took for his ene- 
mies, and committed dreadful havoc among. He condemned General Jackson 
for issuing his bloody Proclamation against South Carolina, and promised to 
call on him at Washington, on his way to Philadelphia, and rectify all that 
was amiss. In the February before, he attended a meeting at Rockingham 
Court-House, well supplied with resolutions, and foreboding a wordy war. He 
talked for several hours about everything. The Richmond Whig published an 
extract of a letter giving an account of the proceedings. The writer says : — 
" I can with truth say that I did not go there with the fashion so blindly 
as to swallow the infernal doctrines of the Proclamation, as the people 
of this county were about doing. Since the last Charlotte court the opinions of 
the Republican party have assumed a totally different aspect. John of Roanoke 
has completely revolutionized them. He spoke till near dark. As usual, he 
talked upon everything. Negro education ! He told the ladies that those of 
them who sheeted their best beds and uncorked their best wines for a negro 
preacher (the Rev. Mr. Erskine) were not far from having mulatto children. 
It seemed about 800 persons were present, all of whom but three voted for his 
resolutions (damnatory of General Jackson). But due allowance must be 
granted for this ebullition of passion, as he was then on his last pilgrimage on 
-earth, his health being so feeble that he had to address the company from the 
idmx on which he sat. He arrived in Baltimore (as the American informs us) 



104 BIOGRAPHY OF 

some days afterwards, and is said to have teen much ofFended on account of 
the crowd. But the singularity of his equipage and proceeding were justifiable 
causes for curiosity. Many wished to see what sort of a being was in the ve- 
hicle, an old-fashioned English coach of revolutionary times, drawn by four 
horses, Avith a postillion on one of the leaders, and Juba on the box. The edi- 
tor says he would have been more vexed if he had not created a sensation. 
Such a number of spectators crowded around the public door of the tavern, that 
he had to be carried in the arms of Juba through a private entrance. 

On the 13th of January, 1831, when the appropriation bill came up for con- 
sideration, a long and very warm discussion arose on the item of .f 9,000 for 
one year's salary of Mr. Randolph as minister to Russia. It was moved to 
strike it out, and Mr. Burge.«s, of Rhode Island, spoke at length and with much 
bitterness against the absent minister. He did not spare Mr. Van Buren in his 
long course of crimination. He charged him with having created the mission 
for the express purpose of serving Mr. Randolph. "His mission," said he, 
" will hereafter be regarded as an era in our foreign relations, and the resi- 
dence of Randolph at the court of Russia will be long talked of as a pheno- 
menon in diplomacy. For this we must give him the ^9,000 demanded by the 
Secretary. During his nine days' residence, what service did he render the 
American people ? The Secretary is satisfied, and we surely ought not to be 
anxious about this great affair. We ai-e told it is a matter exclusively within 
the competency of the Executive, and therefore it is, I presume, that the repre- 
sentatives of the people have no other vocation but to vote the promised and 
required compensation. He certainly succeeded in that short time in rendering 
himself very distinguished at the court of Russia, and therefore it may be said, 
in gi'^'ing equal celebrity to his country. He certainly gave voice to every 
tongue of riunor in both hemispheres. * * * * With a perfect knowledge of 
the man," said he, " the Secretary of State could not have contrived this mis- 
sion with any view to the public service. This man was sent out, not to benefit 
the people abroad, but to relieve the administration at home. The crafty Secre- 
taiy had witnessed the political movements of this eccentric man. He feared 
the comet might return again and visit his political hemisphere. He had seen it 
blaze in perihelion, with 'fear of change perplexing men in power.' Was it 
not prudent to remove the star of malign influence to another sky .' What 
could such a man do for his country in the character of foreign minister ? Just 
what he has done ; which was very much like what each man in the nation, of 
all parties, who knew him, expected he would do. Genius he certainly has, 
for he is original and imlike other men. If you please, he is eloquent ; but, if 
so, it is Uke himself, sui generis. These have enabled him to perform what he 
has done. Could they qualify him for the ser^vices of a great diplomatic minis- 
ter ? Do not these require sound judgment, deep and extensive and regular 
thinking, laborious perseverance in business, and, above all, prudence and cir- 
cumspection .' In his thirty years of public service, where are his monuments 
of political wisdom aiid labors of patriotism ? They are all of a piece, of one 
uniform character, and this Russian residence will neither give the blush nor 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 105 

ihe palm to any other public transactions of this remarkable man, thoughout 
his political life." In this attack upon the absent orator, on the very theatre of 
his prowess, Mr. Burgess displayed more spirit than Marius upon entering the 
city of Rome, during the detention of his rival Sylla in Greece, when a voice 
seemed to be continually sounding in his ears, " dreadful is the den of even the 
distant lion." But Mr. Randolph had a host of friends, able and ready enough 
to defend him. The first that arose in his cause was his talented countryman 
John S. Barbour. " It was said," he commenced, " on a former and appropri- 
ate occasion by Mr. Randolph, that his feet had never been soiled by the dust 
of the ante-chamber. He had been the light and ornament of the House and 
the Senate, in times when friends and foes guided the destinies of this countiy. 
He had never bent his knee where his heart owed no respect. We are arro- 
gantly called on by the gentleman from Rhode Island to point to the monuments 
of the past services of Mr. Randolph that he has left behind him. Sir, it was 
once said of a patriot, a soldier and a statesman, whose deeds of renown are 
beyond the reach of praise or dispraise, that his monument was erected in the 
hearts of his countrymen. Profiting by this figure, I beg leave to say, that Mr. 
Randolph has left among us one monument of his great services. It rests in 
the heart of the gentleman from Rhode Island, rising out of it to full view in 
this debate ; it is now seen sparkling in the glitter of his fancy, now casting its 
malignant shadow over those services which justice and history have already 
consecrated to patriotism and glory. Mr. Randolph's great exertions, united 
with as devoted a band of patriots as ever combined to resist oppression in the 
Senate, or withstand it in the field, overthrew the party to whic2i the gentleman 
from Rhode Island belonged. In that great struggle bet^vecii liberty and power, 
Mr. R. was true to the people. His matchless genius "'as exerted in favor of 
the people, and this is his crime." * * * Mr. Burgess, some days afterwards, 
replied at much length and with great severity, ^nd was answered by Mr. Cam- 
breleng, among many others. 

At the conclusion of a speech of a haJi hour's duration, he observed, «' My 
task is finished. I engaged in this debate from a hard necessity ; Jbut, sir, it is 
a duty I shall never shrink from, when called upon to discharge the obligations 
of friendship. I have only to regret the absence of the gentleman calumniated, 
who would have defended himsel/ with infinitely greater ability. I now re- 
sign, sir, all the honors of the ring, most cheerfully — all the vulgar triumph of 
the fancy to those who habitually indulge that exalted ambition. When hum- 
ble ambition, sir, is driven by hard necessity, to quit the ' even tenor of its 
way,' to grapple with a Cribb or a Molyneux, the severity of the pimishment 
should correspond with the enormity of the sacrifice. In rebuking calumny, 
sir to the best of my poor ability, I have not ruffled a feather of the imperial 
■eagle, towering in his pride of place. No, sir. Withered be the arm that 
would harm the bold bird that sports and revels in the purple cloud of war, and 
lights with a triumphant wing, on the standard of liberty. No, sir. The arrow 
was aimed at an ill-omened follower of the camp — at the sable bird that hovers 
over and lights upon the field, when the battle is lost and won, and claws on 
10* 



106 BIOGRAPHVOF 

the grave of the brave for its dreadful food. The vulture winged, the true 
sportsman pursues such game no further. He leaves his victim to rot upon the 
plain, to the kind care of his dusky mourners, with none to chaunt its requiem 
but myriads of cawing crows and croakjngij-avens." 

We have not room to pursue the discussion further, which was kept up for 
more than three weeks. Although it was on a subject of minor importance, the 
nation was gratified with at least the worth of the sum in dispute, m genuine 
eloquence ; and the opposing champions seemed to emulate each other, both in 
the acrimony of their vituperation and the graces of oratory. The motion to 
strike out the ^■QjOOO salary was lost by a large majority ; but the people were 
more fully satisfied with the propriety of the appropriation. 

DEATH OF MR. RANDOLPH. . 

Mr. Randolph reached Philadelphia in May, 1833, on his way to New York, 
from whence it was his wish to embark again for Europe — it being, as he stated, 
the last throw of the die. He was very low when he arrived, and continued to 
sink, gradually, to the end. The lamp of life flickered in the socket, and even 
its occasional flashes informed those around his bedside of the near approach of 
death. He possessed the power and brilliancy of his intellect to a late hour. 
One account states tliat, only two hours before his death, he talked and said he 
felt as well as ever ; in fact, that his health had recovered — and lie wrote to 
Virginia foi the pedigree of a horse. " I am going," said he to a gentleman, " to 
England. — It is the last throw of the die." It was but the last flickering of the 
flame, tliat blazed up for a moment to go out for ever. The evening before his 
death, his physician, wiih a laudable frankness, announced to him his approach- 
ing end. He received the t-wful tidings without surprise or alarm ; spoke of 
his life as a protracted illness, and that it was time the scene of suffering should 
close. He gave directions that his body should be conveyed to his late home 
Roanoke, and buried under a particular tree. A clergyman being in attendance, 
read a portion of Scripture, during whicli he laid the accent on the word omni- 
potent, on the penultimate syllable, when Mr. Randolph rose up, and support- 
ing himself on his elbow, repeated, twice, " Omnipotent — omnipotent," laying 
the accent on the second syllable, fell back and expired, on Friday, the 20th of 
May, 1833. A meeting of the citizens was convened, at 1 o'clock, at the court 
room, to take some measure with regard to INIr. Randolph's death. Judge Hopkin- 
son, formerly a member of the House, was called to the chair. Mr. Sargeant (also 
a member) made a forcible and eloquent address on the character and abihties 
of the deceased, and a committee was appointed to confer with the personal 
friends of Mr. Randolph, with a view of entering into arrangements for offering 
a pubUc tribute of respect to his memory. Owing to the warmth of the weather 
and the inconvenience of the necessary delay a compliance with the request 
would occasion, Mr. John S. Barbour, on the part of Mr. R.'s friends, on the 
25th of May, declined the committee's invitation, in a most respectful note, and 
the remains of Mr. Randolph were removed on board a vessel, to be taken to 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 107 

his native State, to be deposited with those of his ancestors. The coffin arriveo 
at Richmond on the 28th, when the funeral service of the Episcopal Church was 
read over it by the Rev. Mr. Lee — this being all the ceremony the deceased de- 
sired, in a wish uttered a few weeks before. An immense procession followed 
the corpse as far as Mayo's bridge ; minute guns were fired by a detachment 
of artillery, as a token of respect. Lieutenant Robert B. Randolph, a rela- 
tion, who had rendered himself famous by bearding the lion in his den — or, 
pulling President Jackson's nose, on the 5th of the month — arrived in time to 
Join the procession. Johnny and Juba, whose names have become classical^ 
and, as the account states, will go down to posterity in iinion with that of their 
master, formed a conspicuous part of it. Public .sympathy was excited by the 
silent and unostentatious grief of these faithful servants, particularly the former, 
at the sight of the tears which trickled down his cheeks, while they assisted in 
placing the remains of their master in the hearse. 

WILL OF MR. RANDOLPH. 

In July, 1834, at the term of the General Court held at Richmond, a paper, 
purporting to be the last will and testament of John Randolph, was offered for 
probate on behalf of John Randolph Bryan, an infant and principal devisee, by 
his next friend and grandfather. Judge Coalter. A motion was submitted on 
behalf of Johnny, Juba and Essex, to permit them, for themselves and the other 
slaves, to appear, as parties, and oppose the probate of the will, and to offer 
another paper, as the last will, by which they and the other slaves were libe- 
rated. The motion on behalf of the slaves was overruled by the court, on the 
ground that, while in the condition of slaves, they could not legally be admitted 
as parties to any proceedings other than a suit in forma pauperis, or bill in 
eqtiity, for the recovery of their freedom. Upon this decision being annoimced, 
the same motions were submitted in behalf of the Rev. Bishop Meade, one of 
the trustees mentioned in the last paper, which were allowed, and he was made 
a party on the record. The parties not being prepared, a subpcena duces tecum 
was awarded to the clerk of the Court of Charlotte County, commanding him 
to bring up the paper last offered, and commissions granted the parties to take 
depositions of witnesses residing in London and Philadelphia, and the cause con- 
tinued till next term. 

The will above offered for probate, was dated January, 1832, and contained 
no clause for the manumission of his slaves. In fact, the will of 1822, being 
his first one, in which their liberation was provided, was said to have been re- 
voked, or cancelled, by the erasure of his signature. The will of 1832 contains 
this clause : " I do hereby appoint my friend, William Leigh, of Halifax, and 
my brother, Henry St. George Tucker, President of the Court of Appeals, exe- 
cutors of this my last will and testament, requiring them to sell all the slaves 
and other personal property, and vest the proceeds in bank stock of the Bank 
of the United States; and, in defect of there being such bank (which may God 
grant for the sake of our liberties), in the three per cent, consols; and, in case 



108 BIOGRAPHY OF 

of there being no such stock (which may God also grant for the salvation of 
England), then in the United States three per cent, stock ; or, in defect of such 
stock, in mortgage of land in England." The General Court, on the 15th of 
July, 1836, affirmed the validity of the various vpills and codicils of John Ran- 
dolph, through the years 1819 and 1831. The most important feature esta- 
blished is the emancipation of his slaves, now numbering about five hundred. 
They settle the bulk of his estate on the Hon. William Leigh, Judge of the 
General Court ; but, he having renounced all benefit, in order to qualify himself 
as a witness against the last will of 1832, the effect will be intestacy as to what 
was bequeathed to him, amounting to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ! — 
which will go to Mr. R.'s heirs at law. Eleven judges composed the court, and 
all concurred in their opinions, except one. An appeal was taken to the High 
Court of Appeals, which would sit in November. The following is the original 
will of Mr. Randolph, and one of the codicils. Other codicils were made, but 
have not been published in the Richmond papers : 

" In the name of God — -amen. I, John Randolph, of Roanoke, in the county 
of Charlotte, do ordain this writing, written with my own hand, this 4th of 
May, 1819, to be my last will and testament, hereby revoking all others what- 
ever. I give my slaves their freedom, to which my conscience tells me they 
are justly entitled. It has a long time been a matter of the deepest regret to me, 
that the circumstances under which I inherited them, and the obstacles thrown 
in the way by the laws of the land, have prevented my manumitting them in 
my lifetime, which is my full intention to do, in case I can accomphsh it. All 
the residue of my estate (with the exceptions herein made), whether real or 
personal, I bequeath to William Leigh, Esquire, of Halifax, attorney at law, to 
the Rev. William Meade, of Frederick, and to Francis S. Key, Esquire, of 
Georgetown, in trust for the following uses and purposes, viz. 1 . To provide 
one or more tracts of land, in any of the States or Territories, not exceeding in 
the whole, four thousand acres, nor less than two thousand, to be partitioned 
and apportioned by them in such manner as may seem best, among said slaves. 
2d. To pay the expense of their removal and of furnishing them with the neces- 
sary cabins, clothes and utensils. 3d. To pay the expense, not to exceed four 
hundred dollars per annum, of the education of John Randolph Clay, until he 
shall arrive at the age of twenty-three, leaving him my injunction to scorn to eat 
the bread of idleness or dependence. 4th. To pay to Theodoric Bland Dudley 
ten thousand dollars. 5th. With the residue of said estate to found a college, 
to be called Roanoke College. I give to Theodore B. Dudley all my books, 
plate, household and kitchen furniture, and all my hquors; also my guns and 
pistols, and the choice of six of my horses or brood mares, and my single 
chaise, with my best riding saddle and valise. It is my wish and desire that my 
executors give no bond or security for the trust reposed in them. In witness 

whereof, &c., &c. 

(Signed), " JOHN RANDOLPH, of Roanoke." 

'« Codicil. — It is my will and desire that my old servants, Essex, and Hetty 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 109 

his wife, be made quite comfortable. It is my intention that my revolutionary 
claims on Mr. Blodgct's and Mrs. Randolph's estates should pass by the devisee 
to the executors, who shall sell any portion, or the whole of my said estate, of 
whatever nature it may be, the specified devises only excepted." 

Among the testimony adduced, was the following, which strongly illustrates 
the eccentricity of the character of the deceased. Doctor Brockenbrough, on 
being questioned about Mr. R.'s religion, in 1819, said he was enthusiastic on 
that subject, but he spoke and wrote on other subjects like a man of sense, and 
witness did not think his religious enthusiasm went to the length of derange- 
ment. At any rate, there are many who went as far on that subject, that are 
not considered deranged. Witness thought Mr. Randolph under this strong 
reUgious bias from 1818 to 1822. Thinks he did not use profane language 
during that period — that he was really pious, and that his conduct was unusually 
mild and forbearing. Witness was further examined as to various incidents in 
Mr. Randolph's life, and certain extravagancies of conduct during his visit to 
Richmond, in the years 1819 and 1826, and the intermediate years. Questioned 
whether he thought Mr R. deranged in 1826. Witness said he differed from 
other persons who thought Mr. R.'s extravagancies arose from insanity. Wit- 
ness never saw him, where money was concerned, in which he was not perfectly 
collected. If he had a bargain to make, he could be as cool as any man. In 
1826, Mr. R. behaved wildly, and dressed in a strange manner; b/it he occa- 
sionally conversed as rationally as ever. Mr. J. A. Chevalher said he was well 
acquainted with John Randolph for thirty years preceding his death. He met 
with him on board a steambuat, cuiuiugup from Norfolk to Richmond, the 14th 
of April, 1820. Mr. Randolph had arrived there the day before, from Wash- 
ington. When he fust saw him on board, Mr. Randolph appeared to be very 
much excited by something that happened the day before. He stated that a 
Frenchman, who was servant of M. Hyde de Neuville, the French minister, 
and M'ho had stood behind the chair of the minister while at dinner, had the 
audacity and the impudence to sit down at his side at table, the day before, on 
board the boat. That he had resented his insolence, and threatened to shoot 
him with his double-barrelled gun, which he had with him (and which witness 
saw), if he did not quit the table. Mr. Randolph abused the Frenchman very 
much, and said he called him to his face, coquin and poUison. After breakfast, 
Mr. Randolph came where the witness was sitting, took a seat by him, treated 
him with politeness, and engaged in a conversation with him about French hte- 
rature, the etymology of French words, &c., which conversation he conducted 
with much ability and learning, proving himself master of the subject. When 
they arrived at City Point, Mr. Randolph's carriage and horses were got out 
on the wharf, to enable him to proceed (witness understood) to Petersburgh. 
Witness was then in the cabin, and a servant came and told him Mr. Randolph 
wished to see him. When he went on the deck, Mr. Randolph was standing 
on the wharf, and as soon as he saw the witness, he saluted him, waved his 
hat over his head, and cried out, three times, " Vive le Roi," in a loud voice. 



110 BIOGRAPHYOF 

During the day, Mr. Randolph had dmnk a great quantity of porter. (Ques- 
tioned of Mr. Randolph's state of mind), says that Mr. R. was so variable in 
his conduct and conversation, that he hardly knew what to think of his state of 
mind. When he first saw Mr. R. on board the boat, and heard his statement 
of the meeting with the Frenchman, he thought it very strange, and that Mr. 
Randolph talked wildly about it. That afterwards, in their conversation on 
French literature and other subjects, he seemed to be composed and rational. 
That when he took leave of him, he acted like a madman, which might have 
been occasioned by the quantity of porter he drank. 

■- Mr. B. W. Leigh was questioned as to Mr. Randolph's attachment to a young 
lady who was married about 1806. Says he thinks the lady's marriage took 
place in 1807. Thinks Mr. Randolph's attachment to her a very strong one. 
Should not say the effect upon his feelings was very obvious, but it had a strong 
impression upon him. It was well known to witness that he was attached to 
her, and that he felt the disappointment deeply ; but he never spoke upon the 
subject irrationally. He never attributed the defeat of his matrimonial connec- 
tion to the intrigues of others. He said if he and the lady had been left quite 
alone, he believed their union would not have been prevented. There were in- 
terferences, he said, neither intended to break off nor to urge on the match, but 
which had an inauspicious effect. He never spoke disrespectfully of the lady's 
relatives, and one of them (Major Eggleston) he always mentioned with respect 
and kindness. He did not ascribe his disappointment to the interference of his 
own relatives. Witness thought the attachment an enduring one, and that Mr. 
Randolph retained it after the lady's marriage, and dwelt upon it more than he 
should have done. Mr. Randolph spoke often to witness on the subject, but 
witness never said anything in relation to it, as he thought it a matter which 
ought not to be talked about. Has heard of his speaking on the subject to a 
number of persons. 

Did Mr. Randolph survive the lady ? — Yes. 

What impression did her death make upon him ? — A painful one. 

The lady was remarkable for the charms of her person and manners. In 
reference to the Russian Mission, Mr. Leigh says, 

" Mr. Randolph asked witness his opinion of the propriety of his accepting 
the appointment. Witness endeavored to avoid expressing his opinion, but Mr. 
Randolph insisted upon having it, and witness gave it in strong terms." 

Did not this conversation indicate that Mr. Randolph was not in his right mind .' 
— No. It was his going about and exhibiting the correspondence between the 
department of State and himself on the subject of his mission. It was not strange 
that he should show it to his friends, but it was strange that he should show it to 
persons with whom he had little or no intercourse, and in whom he had no 
confidence. Witness believes his mind was highly excited on the question of 
the acceptance of this mission, and the conversation with witness served to ag- 
gravate it. Witness therefore regretted that Mr. Randolph had forced him to 
give his opinion upon it. Mr. Randolph gave as a reason for his exhibiting the 



JOHN RANDOLPH. Ill 

correspondence that he wished to place himself rectus in curia. That he had 
not solicited the mission, but it was forced upon him. He demanded from wit- 
ness his opinion of the propriety of his course, insisting that he had a right to 
know it. 

Was not Mr. Randolph remarkable all his life for irritability ? — He was. 
He seemed sometimes like a man without a skin ; but this sensitiveness va- 
ried with the state of his health, and his health was bad all his life. When in 
pain he was irritable in the extreme. It was difficult to describe the effect of 
passion upon him. When in a public body he would sometimes be highly ir- 
ritated, but he appeared perfectly cool, and it was this control over his feelings 
that enabled him to make those severe retorts for which he was distinguished. 
When he was angry, he was very angry. He was quick to take offence, and 
he never proportioned the measure of retaliation to the measure of the offence." 

The case, as we stated, was carried up to the High Court of Appeals, and ar- 
gued the 17th December, 1836, but the Court did not deliver theu- opinions, nor 
can I find any further trace of it. 

In reading this Will, we must express our admiration at the magnanimity and 
liberality of Judge Leigh in making a voluntary sacrifice of such a fortune to 
become a legal witness in favor of the Will of 1819, that of 1832, if established, 
doing great injustice to the heirs, as well as entailing slavery upon a numerous 
body of faithful family servants, the value of whose la,bor had enriched him and 
to whom he had promised their freedom. Such an act of disinterested humanity 
would be thought most extraordinary in these times. We might say, it was al- 
most worthy the disinheritance of one's heirs for such a friend. We have also 
another rare instance of generosity on the part of his half brother, Henry St. 
George Tucker, who, rather than be his competitor in the election of United 
States Senator, though his most ardent ambition might have been gratified, yield- 
ed all to the ties of fraternal ciffection. 

Soon after Mr. Randolph's death, a friend of his, an Irish gentleman as he 
informed us, published some notes of him in the New York American, extend- 
ing to four or five numbers. Their acquaintance commenced on the first voyage 
which Mr. Randolph took to England, March 16, 1822, in the ship Amity, 
when the gentleman accompanied him, and spent some time with him in Lon- 
don. He declares that he never travelled with so entertaining a companion, and 
never met with his equal in diversity of knowledge. He relates many anec- 
dotes and remarkable sayings of Mr. Randolph, and thinks if his memory were 
as good as Mr. Randolph's, he could write a large volume, under the several 
heads of politics, history, classics, biography, and theology. Finding he was 
an Irishman, Mr. Randolph, soon after their introduction, went up to him and 
expressed the pleasure he felt at his acquaintance, as he loved the country and 
admired her sons — and daughters too, as Miss Edgeworth was his favorite. 
He said he knew her works almost by heart, and asked the gentleman to solve 
a difficulty which had puzzled him in the geography of Ireland. Why is it, sir, 
asked Mr. Randolph, that in every map of Ireland Ballinaslae is placed on the 
wrong side of the river Suck ? The gentleman confessed his ignorance at once 



112 BIOGRAPHYOF 

as to there being any such river in Ireland, and on asking Mr. Randolph how 
he came to know the localities of Ireland so minutely, he answered by books, 
conversation, and the blessing of a memory which never forgot anything. . The 
gentleman soon discovered that Mr. Randolph was intimately acquainted with 
every part of England and Scotland also, not only as to cities and towns, but 
gentlemen's country-seats ; and he knew the history of every celebrated horse- 
race, and of every race-horse in England. On the eve of sailing the gentleman 
obtained a Washington paper which gave the news of the defeat of the bank- 
rupt bill. Upon communicating it to Mr. Randolph he thanked God for all his 
mercies, and added that he was dehghted to think that he had helped to give 
that hateful bill a kick. This day week, said he, " I spoke for three hours 
against it, and my friends, who forced me to make the effort, were good enough 
to say I never had made a more successful speech. It must have had some 
merit," continued he, " for I assure you that whilst I was speaking, although the 
Northern Mail was announced, not a single member left his seat to look for let- 
ters, a circumstance which had not occurred before during the session." 

One of the company was an excellent chess player, and upon challenging Mr. 
Randolph to play with him, Mr. Randolph replied that he had not played a 
game of chess for seventeen years, and could not recur to the last game he 
played but with unpleasant feelings, as it lost him a friend for ever. It was no 
less an antagonist than Mr. Jefferson, who, according to Mr. Randolph, ■valued 
himself more upon his skill at chess than in anything else. Very few could 
beat him, and he could not bear defeat. He was aware of that, and constantly 
dechned playing with him because he knew he was his match. But cue unfor- 
tunate evening Mr. Jefferson touched his Virginia pride in so pointed a way that 
he could not refuse, and they sat down at the game. Mr. Randolph soon cried 
" checkmate," and Mr. Jefferson never forgave him afterwards. 

He carried a large box of books with him to have bound in England. He 
was asked why he had not had them done in Philadelphia or New York. He 
answered that he did not feel disposed to patronise his Yankee task-masters, 
who had imposed such a duty on foreign books. He declared he would no 
longer wear what they made, nor eat what they raised, so long as his purse 
enabled him to purchase supplies from Old England ; and until he could have 
his books bound south of JNIasonand Dixon's line, he would employ John BuU. 
He refused to eat cod-lish because it came from New England. On Sundays he 
used to read a chapter in the Bible, or a part of the Church Service, and once 
made an extempore prayer, and he never would permit a reflection to be cast 
upon religion without a very pointed rebuke. He had been corrupted for many 
years, he confessed, by the iniidelity which prevailed among the leading politi- 
cians at Washington. In the year 1816, during a severe fit of sickness, he had 
a remarkable vision which completely dispelled the delusions under which he 
had surrendered his faith, since when he had been a firm believer in Christian- 
ity. He had preserved a copy of the letter he had written to a friend immedi- 
ately after this vision, in which he even gave the words which were uttered in 
his ears by this invisible monitor, but which words, unfortunately, the gentle- 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 113 



man has omitted to give. He persisted in the truth of the statement enclosed in 
the letter, and declared that it would make him miserable for any one to doubt 
it. He vouched for the firm faith of the late Mr. Pinckney in the truths of re- 
vealed religion, as he obtained them from his own lips a few days before his 
death. But as to that of Mr. Jefierson he entertained a very different opinion. 



CHAPTER V. 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND, HIS RECEPTION, VIEWS, ETC. 

In one of his voyages to England, as his Bozzy, the Irish correspondent of 
the Mirror informs us, he was accompanied by a Yorkshire manufacturer who 
had been in New York on the business of his agency for the sale of his goods. 
He took a liking to the Yorkshireman, principally because his ancestors came 
from there. He entered into the minutise of his business as if he had served a 
long apprenticeship in it. He commended the west riding of Yorkshire espe- 
cially. He took side with the weavers against the whole world. To be sure, 
sir, said he, your operatives are not so well off as our Virginia slaves; but 
they are white, and hence your philanthropists do not feel bound in conscience 
to look after their misery. But that's their affair, not mine. So long, says he, 
as John Bull is willing to work forces, I am for giving him the monopoly of 
all the evils of the system. I never want to see our boys and girls, much less 
our men, turned into spinning-jennies — mere machines, sir, mere machines. No, 
sir. Every nation to its taste. England chooses the workshop, America ought 
to prefer the open fields and agricultural pursuits, and there should be no jea^ 
lousy about the mere question of exchange. This modern " balance of trade" 
is puzzling the brains of our would-be statesmen. He gave a graphic though 
humorous description of the shipping trade that was carried on when he was a 
boy. The ship was called the London Trader, and her departure from Virginia 
was an affair of no small consequence to the neighborhood, equal to a presiden- 
tial election nowadays. In his father's family, the whole household was 
called together. First his mother (God bless her) put down a list of the 
articles she wanted from London, next the children according to their ages, then 
the overseer, and finally the domestic servants, his Mammy at the head of them, 
down to the young ones. Not a single individual was omitted. Then after 
the ship was gone, the weeks and days, and finally the hours were counted, 
until she returned, and the joyful signal of her arrival in James Kiver was cele- 
brated as a jubilee. Our Egyptian taskmasters, added he, only wish to leave us 
the recollection of past times, and they insist upon our purchasing their vile, do- 
mestic stuffs ; but it wont do, no wooden nutmegs for old Virginia. The Vir- 
ginians would hold fast to the west riding and will still trust to its workmen for 
11 



114 EIOGRAPHYOF 

their supplies. In the month of June, the Irish gentleman who went over with 
Mr. Randolph to England, after a short visit to his native country^ went to Lon- 
don accompanied by his father. The day after their arrival, they called on Mr. 
Randolph, who was so delighted to see him, that he agreed at once to remove 
to their hotel. He had prepared his father for an introduction to his eccentric 
friend, and yet when he did introduce him he could scarcely refrain from smil- 
ing. Mr. Randolph said he was proud to make the acquaintance of the son of 
that man who received the thanks of Congress for his kindness to his poor 
countrymen, upon their fleeing to Ireland, during the revolutionary war. After 
informing the old gentleman that he had promised his son to send him a copy of 
Waite's State papers, and that he hoped he had received the letter he had written 
to that effect, he suddenly arose from his seat, and in his earnest manner thus 
addressed them. " Mr. H., two days ago, I saw the greatest curiosity in London, 
or England either, — compared to which, Westminster Abbey, the Tower, Somer- 
set-House, the British Museum, nay. Parliament itself, sink into insignificance ! 
1 have seen, sir, Elizabeth Fry, in Newgate, and I have witnessed there the 
miraculous effects of true Christianity upon the most depraved of human beings. 
Bad women, sir, who are worse, if possible, than the devil himself: and yet the 
wretched outcasts have been tamed and subdued by the Christian eloquence of 
Mrs. Fry. I have seen them weep repentant tears while she addressed them. 
I have heard their groans of despair, sir. Nothing but religion could effect this 
miracle — for what can be a greater miracle than the conversion of a degraded, sin- 
ful woman, taken from the very dregs of society. Oh, sir, believe me, it was a 
sight worthy the attention of angels. You must also see this wonder, sir, and 
by the by, this is one of her visiting days ; let us go at once, we shall just be 
in time. She has given me permission to bring any of my friends with me. I 
shall introduce you with pleasure." They ordered a coach, but on calling at 
Mrs. Fry's, unfortimately she was not in town that day. 

They went to Newgate, however, on the next visiting day, and no longer 
wondered at Mr. Randolph's description of her and the scene of her pious exer- 
tions. The female convicts were all present — some of them under sentence of 
death, others of transportation, others waiting their trial, but charged with mur- 
der, robbery of every grade— the very worst collection of females that the streets 
of London could furnish. Yet, the moment Mrs. Fry commenced reading a 
chapter in the Bible, all was still as death — every eye was fixed on her benig- 
nant countenance— every bosom heaved with emotion. By and by the tears 
began to flow, and subdued sighs and sobbings were heard. When she had 
finished reading the chapter, she closed the book, and after a solemn pause of a 
few moments, she addressed the wretched criminals in language of the most 
affectionate entreaty, to " turn from their wickedness and live." Whilst she 
was speaking, a violent thunder-storm burst over us, and one very vivid flash 
suddenly illuminated the dark hall. Shrieks and cries of mercy broke out from 
among the criminals. After silence was restored, Mrs. Fry continued — '■ Why 
should this exhibition of Almighty power disturb you .' A clear conscience is 
not so quickly alarmed. Alas ! my hearers, it is the knowledge of your past 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 115 

crimes, which the inward monitor now reveals, that overpowers you, at a mo- 
ment when, but for the mercy of God, the thunderbolt would have struck you 
dead, and summoned your immortal spirits to the last dread accovmt." Her 
audience, as she proceeded, were subdued, were humbled to the dust and deeply 
contrite. She has done much in reforming a class, who, before her charitable 
labors, were utterly depraved. Mrs. Fry invited Mr. Randolph to dine with 
her, and in her note, apologised for naming so unfashionable an hour as 4 o'clock, 
as knowing at the West End, he never (Uned till eight. In declinmg the invita- 
tion, from a prior engagement, he observed that no apology was necessary for 
the early hour mentioned in her note, as it was two hours later than he was 
accustomed to dine in Virginia, and he had not yet learned to turn night into 
day, and vice versa. He complained to his friend of the late hours of the aris- 
tocracy, and said he could submit to all but late dinners — they were killing him, 
and he must quickly run away from London, or cut his noble acquaintance. 

Mr. Randolph, in his societ)% aimed at the highest quarry. His company 
was sought after by the nobility and gentry, and we have seen one instance in 
which royalty itself condescended to admit him within the same tent. A cer- 
tain Lord L , on meeting him one night under the gallery of the House of 

Commons, introduced himself, and they became very intimate. His lordship said 
to the narrator (the Irish gentleman to whom we are indebted for the foregoing 
account of the meeting Avith Mrs. Fry, one day afterwards), that he had never 
met with so thoroughly well-informed a gentleman as his friend, Mr Randolph, 
no matter what was the subject, history, belles-lettres, biography — but the most 
astonishing part of all was, he possessed a minute local knowledge of England and 
Ireland. " He thought he himself knew them well, but he Avas obliged to jaeld the 
palm to Mr. Randolph. He had purposely tried to confound or puzzle him, but 
all in vain. His conversational powers are most dazzling even in London, 
where we pride ourselves on good talking. I never have been so much struck 
with any stranger, and although a high Tory, I always forgot he was a republi- 
can : by the way, not a very bigoted one. I never heard him abuse the aris- 
tocracy. I was so much pleased with him, on our first interview, I determined 
to pay him a mark of respect, Avhich I was sure would gratify his Virginia 
pride. I obtained permission from the Lord Chancellor, to introduce Mr. Ran- 
dolph, as a distinguished American, into the House of Lords, by a private 
entrance near the throne, instead of obliging him to force his way with the 
crowd at the common entrance. Having obtained his lordship's coi^sent, I intro-" 
duced Mr. Randolph to the doorkeeper, and desired him to admit him whenever 
he presented himself, without requiring him to exhibit any special order. His 
figure and whole appearance were such, I saw no risk of having any counter- 
feit Randolphs. When I told him of his privilege, I saw at once that I had 
won my way to his heart, and amply has he repaid me by the richness of his 
conversation whenever we have met." Mr. Randolph entered accordingly, by 
the private door, as a gentleman commoner, where the House of Commons were 
convened that night on some special occasion, and filled the space around the 
throne. He walked in m.ost leisurely, to the envy of some Lords who had to 



116 BIOGRAPHYOF 

squeeze in through the puhhc entrance, and m all his glory, alongside of Can- 
ning, Castlereagh, Sir Robert Peel, and many other distinguished members of 
the House of Commons. Some of these gentlemen even selected for him a pro- 
minent position, where he could see and hear perfectly. The debate was a 
most interesting one, and brought out the whole strength of the House. Lords 
Grey, Erskine,Grenville, Lansdown, Holland, Eldon, Liverpool and Grosvenor, 
were the' principal speakers. Lord Grey, as the spectator gazed upon his noble 
figure, appeared the finest specimen of aristocracy personified in the entire assem- 
bly. He spoke with dignitj' and eloquence, but wanted animation. Lord Hol- 
land kept the House in a roar of laughter, by an ironical appeal to the bench of 
bishops. In reply to some noble lord, who had expressed his fears that " our 
holy religion would be endangered by the passage of the bill" — the Roman Ca- 
thoUc Peers Bill — he said, " I have no fears, so long as our holy religion 
remains under the guarchanship of that right reverend bench yonder. It is to 
their distinguished piety and good works — to their bright examples, to their self- 
denying lives, to their daily fasts and nightly vigils; to their pure, practical 
preaching, that we must owe our safety from all heresy, false doctrine and 
schism. Take my advice, my lords, and rest your dependence on these true 
pillars of the Church, and not on musty acts of Parliament." Lord Eldon was 
equally severe upon Mr. Canning, whom he disliked, though a fellow-member 
of the Cabinet. In the course of his speech, he used these bitter remarks: — 
" My lords, if I had not been told that this bill was the product of so much 
talent and so much modesty, I would have said, from my perusal of it, that it 
was the greatest collection of trash and nonsense I had ever yet seen presented 
to your lordships' attention. To the respectable gentleman who inti'oduced this 
bill into the other House, I wish well, to whatever part of the world he may be 
going." Mr. Canning had been appointed Governor General of India, but 
remained at home in consequence of the death of Lord Castlereagh. A few 
nights afterwards, in the House of Commons, Mr. Canning paid back the debt 
with compound interest, and Lord Eldon never forgave him. ■ Mr. RandoljA, 
from the nature of his disposition, must have been liighly dehghted with this 
debate. The keen encounter of legislative wit was a most entertaining exhibi- 
tion. It was " caviare to the general." It was the very arena on which he 
displayed such unrivalled powers at home, and the ironical allusion to the bench 
of bishops, by Lord Holland, must have touched "a chord of consonation" in 
the breast of the Virginian. 

Mr. Randolph had carried with him a box of books, among which were some 
marked with tiie name of a lady, which he intended to have bound in London. 
In looking over them his friend observed the superscription, and asked, 
'• How is this ? some fair lady seems to have enchained you." " Ah," said he, 
" the sweetest girl in the Old Dominion — if you only knew her — a particular 
favorite of mine, and I shall have all these books beautifully boimd, to grace her 
centre table on my return." In looking them over, the gentleman found a 
volume of old plays, which he thought too lascivious for the lady's eyes, and 
so stated to Mr. Randolph. He immediately ran his eye over the title page, 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 117 

took the book and immediately endorsed on the back, " Not fit for Bet :" and 
turning to the gentleman, told him he had done him an essential service — that 
he would not for the world do aught to sully that girl's purity of mind. He had 
forgotten those books, or they should not have had a place in his box. He said 
he abominated that vile style of writing which is intended to lessen our abhor- 
rence of vice, and to throw ridicule on virtuous conduct. They then, at Mr. 
Randolph's request, went through the whole catalogue to see if there was any 
other obnoxious volume, but they found no other worthy of the flames. Being 
in the " giving vein," iVfr. Randolph presented his friend with several books as 
keepsakes, and even offered more than the gentleman's modesty would allow 
him to accept. While in London, he and his Irish friend were invited to dine 
at a large party, at the house of a distinguished philanthropist, who was the 
intimate friend and correspondent of the Emperor Alexander of Russia. During 
the dinner, a gentleman related an anecdote of the Emperor. Mr. Randolph, 
who had formed a bad opinion of the Emperor's character, immediately said, 
addressing the host, that he was astonished and disgusted to find, that this 
mighty autocrat of a semi-barbarous nation had so completely gulled the good 
people of London. Believe me, said he, he is a humbug, a spurious philanthro- 
pist, who cares for naught beyond the extension of his own power. Why, 
sir, said Mr. Randolph, he is the chief robber of these modern Goths and Van- 
dals, who, having just tasted the good things of civilized life, want to overrun^ 
if they dare, the fertile plains of the South, like a cloud of locusts. Look at 
Poland, verily the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel ; aye, and if you be 
wise, look in time to France and to England. Beware of his friendship. I 
trust him not. Timeo Danaos, dona fcrentes. He preaches -Christianity, to be 
sure — but it is all lip-service. On their way home, the gentleman informed him 
of the blunder he had made, as the worthy host was the friend and correspon- 
dent of the Emperor. Mr. Randolph felt much confused, and hoped God would 
forgive him for telling the truth at an improper time. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CORRESPONDENCE. 



Mr. Randolph's fame is founded entirely upon his talents as an orator. He 
was the author of no literary work in his lifetime. He left no posthumous 
ones. A volume of familiar letters was published the year after his death by 
his nephew Doctor Theodore B. Dudley, being a selection from several hun- 
dred that were written to him by his uncle, from his boyhood up to his man- 
hood. As they were not intended for publication, they reflect the more credit 
upon the author, and are varitten with great ease, sprightliness, and wit, and are 
stocked with excellent advice and information, both useful and agreeable, which 
11* 



118 BIOGRAPHTfOF 

such a relation ma)^ be presumed, with all his knowledge and experience, to be 
well calculated to give. They embrace a period from 1806 to 1822. It is in 
these private' moments, retired from the busy scenes and the exciting passion of 
politics, when he unbosoms himself to his confidential friends, that he appears 
in his most amiable light. In his private intercourse, in a circle of friends 
when he let himself down from his high degree, he was an entirely changed 
man, a different personage from what he was on the floor of Congress. His 
conversation was as agreeable and instructive as his manners w^ere polished, 
gentlemanly, and polite. In order to show him in this state of calm domestic 
repose, which, after all, was best suited to his con.stitution and the surest source 
of his happiness, we will give a few extracts, taken at random, from these fa- 
miliar letters. 

[To Theo. B. Dudley akd T. T. Eandolph (son of his brother Richard.] 

" Georgetown, Oct. 6, 1807. 
* t. * * „ J jjQpg jQ^ \i3,ye not exposed yourselves to the inconvenience of 
any debt, however small ; but I know^ this is an error into which youthful heed- 
lessness is too apt to run. If you have escaped it, you have exercised more 
judgment than I possessed at your age, the want of which cost me many a 
heart-ache. When any bauble caught my fancy, I would perhaps buy it on 
credit for twice as much as it was worth. In a day or two, cloyed with the 
possession of what, to my youthful imagination, had appeared so very desira- 
ble, I would readily have given it to the first I met; but, in discarding it, I 
could not exonerate myself from the debt that accrued, the recollection of which 
incessantly tormented me. Many a night's sleep has been broken by sad re- 
flection on the difficulty into which I had plunged myself, and in devising means 
of extrication. At the appearance of my creditor I shrunk, and looked, no 
doubt, as meanly as I felt; for the relation of debtor and creditor is that of a 
slave to his master. It begins with the subjugation of his mind, and ends with 
that of his body. Speaking of a promiser (and every creditor is a promise- 
maker, and too often a promise-breaker), you cannot be too much upon your 
guard against them, unless you are sure the performance is in your power, and 
at the same time Avill conduce to your honor and benefit, or those of another. 
* * * * The courage which enables us to say no to an improper application, 
cannot be too soon acquired. The want of it has utterly rumed many an amia- 
ble man. Do not, through false shame, through a vicious modesty, entrap 
yourself into a situation which may dye your cheeks with real shame. As to 
the promiser, he is like the keeper who puts his head into the lion's mouth 
to amuse the spectators. This he did frequently and got it safely out, till at 
last the lion, in a fit of ill-humor, bit it olf. Your word ought to be dearer to 
you than your head. Beware how you put it into the hon's mouth. * * * A 
liar is always a coward." 

TO DR. THEODORE B. DUDLIJV. 

" Washington, Dec. 30, 1821. 
" One of the best and wisest men I ever saw, has often said to me, that a. 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 119 

decayed family could never recover its loss of rank in the world, until it left off 
talking- and dwelling upon its former rank and opulence in the world. I have 
seen this verified in numerous instances in my own connexions, who, to use 
the words of my oracle, will never thrive till they become poor folks. He add- 
ed, 'they may make some struggles, and with apparent success, to recover lost 
ground, they may get hall way up again, but are sure to fall back, unless, re- 
conciling themselves to their circumstaiices, they become poor in form, as well as 
in fact.' The blind pursuit of wealth for the sake of hoarding, is a species of 
insanity. There are spirits, and not the less worthy, who, content with an 
humble mediocrity, leave the field of wealth and ambition open to more active, 
perhaps more guilty competitors. Nothing can be more respectable than the 
independence that grows out of self-denial. The man who, by abridging his 
wants, can find time to cultivate his mind, or to aid his fellow-creatures, is a 
being far above the plodding sons of industry and gain. His is a spirit of the 
noblest order. But what shall we say to the drone Avhom society is eao-er to 
shake from her encumbered lap— who lounges from place to place, and spends 
more time in Adonising his person, even in a morning, than would serve to 
earn his breakfast — who is curious in his living, a connoisseur in wines, fasti- 
dious in his cooking, but who never knew the luxury of earning a meal ? Such 
a creature, sponging from house to house and always on the borrow^ may still 
be seen in Virginia. One more generation may put an end to them."' * * 

TO THE SAME. 

" MoxDAY Morning, 5 o'clock, Feb. 4, 1822. 
" I have been up since half-past one. Yesterday I dined by accident at the 
Union in Georgetown with Mr. K. (Key), and though I had toast and water, 1 
missed my milk, I drank, too, at the earnest recommendation of some of the 
party, some old port w^ine, which has done me no good. My dinner was the 
lean of a very fine haunch of venison, without any gravy, and a httle rice. 
Since it began to rain I have felt as restless as a leech in a weather-glass, and 
so I sit down to write to you. On Saturday I had a narrow escape from a 
most painful death. Wildair dashed off with me on the avenue, alarmed at a 
tattered wagon-cover, shivering in the wind, and would have dashed us both to 
pieces against a poplar, but when she was running full-bent against it, and not 
a length off, by a violent exertion of the left heel and right hand, I bore her off. 
There was not the thickness of half a quire of paper on which I am writing, 
between my body and the tree. Had I worn a great-coat, or cloth boots, I must 
have touched, perhaps been dragged off by them. * * * * 

In the course of my life, I have encountered some risks, but nothino- like this. 
My heart was in my mouth for a moment, and I felt the strongest convictions 
of my utter demerit in the sight of God, and it gushed out in thankfulness for 
His signal and providential preservation. ' What,' thought I, ' had been my 
condition had I then died ? As the tree falleth, so it must lie.' I had been but 
a short time before saying to a man who tried to cheat me, some very hard and 



120 BIOGRAPHYOF 

bitter things. It was a poor auctioneer, who had books on private .sale. He 
attempted to impose upon me in respect to some classical books of which he 
was entirely ignorant, and I expo.sed his ignorance to people in the shop, many 
of whom were members of Congress, and no better informed than him. The 
danger I escaped was no injury to the speech which I made, out of breath, on 
finding, when I reached the House, that there was a call for the previous ques- 
tion.' So true it is, that of all motives religious feeling is the most powerful. 
I am reading for the second time an admirable novel called ' Marriage.' It is 
recommended by Scott in his ' Legend of Montrose.' I wish you would read 
it. Perhaps it might serve to palUate some of your romantic notions (for I de- 
spair of a cure) on the subject of love and marriage. A man that marries a 
woman he does not esteem and treat kindly, is a villain. But marriage was 
made for man, and if the woman be good-tempered, healthy (a qualification 
scarcely thought of now-a-days), chaste, cleanly, economical, and not an abso- 
lute fool, she will make him a better wife than nine out of ten deserve to have. 
To be sure, if to these beauty and understanding be added, all the better. Neither 
would I quarrel with a good fortune, if it has produced no ill effect upon the 
possessor." 

[Extract of a Letter dated Washington, Fee. 5, 1822, to Dr. Dudley.] 

" As I have recommended Marriage to yon (the book [ mean), this digression 
on genealogy* may remind you of Misses Jockey, the agreeable sisters. You 
entirely misapprehend my mode of life. I am very rarely out of bed after 9 
o'clock, and when I exceed that hour, it is not at evening parties. Last night 
I was seduced by a book to go beyond that hour a little. * * * The other day I 
dined at the French minister's. It was Saturday, Madame De N.'s (De Neu- 
ville's) night. At half past 7 we joined the evening visitors, and at half past 
8 I was snug in bed. To be sure I was politely reproached, as I was going 
away, by the Count De Menou (Secretary of Legation), and since hy his prin- 
cipal, for going away so early ; but my plea of weak health satisfied their jea- 
lousy. This is felt, and shown too, by all here iu the highest ranks of fashion. 
Madame is charity itself. The poor will miss her when she goes away. One 
of her savings deserves to be written in letters' of gold: 'When the rich are 
sick, they ought to be starved ; when the poor are sick, they ought to be fed.' 
This is no bad medical precept. 

" I cannot go the ' Cognac' I had rather die than drink habitually brandy 
and water. Look around you and see its ravages. Thank God, it does not pos- 
sess any allurement for me. I ha^'e sometimes been the better for a little brandy 
toddy, but I have not tasted spirits for six weeks or more, and never shall again 
but as a medicine. Genuine ]\Iadeira is the only thing, except good water, that 
I do not drink with pleasure or impunity : not always with the last, sometimes 
with neither. * * * Rely upon it, that to love a woman as a mistress, although 
a delicious delirium, an intoxication far surpassing that of champagne, is alto- 
gether unessential, nay, is pernicious, in the choice of a wife, which a man 
* He pave his owr> genealogy. 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 121 

ought to set about in his sober senses — choosing her, as Mrs. Primrose did her 
wedding gown, for qualities that wear well. I am persuaded that few love- 
matches are happy ones. One thing at least is true, that if matrimony has its 
cares, celibacy has no pleasures. A Newton, a mere scholar may find employ- \ 
ment in study ; a man of literary taste can receive in books a powerful auxi- / 
liary ; but a man must have a bosom friend and children around him to cherish "", 
and support the dreariness of old age. * * * After all, suitability is the true 
foundation of marriage. If the parties are suited to one another in age, situa- 
tion in life (a man may indeed descend, where all else is fitting), temper, and 
constitution, these are the ingrechents of a happy marriage — or at least a con- 
venient one, which is all that people of experience expect. If I had my life 
to go over again, I should make a difTerent sort of thing of it. Community of 
tastes and pursuits, very often vicious ones, are the foimdation of most youth- 
ful friendships. One great mistake that young people commit is in associating 
with people of their own age, but greatly above them in point of fortune. One 
young man can, perhaps, afford to spend a thousand dollars, where one hundred 
would embarrass the finances of his companion. This last must sink into a 
led captain, a boon companion or sot ; or perhaps commit forgery or a breach of 
trust, to keep up with the rest." * * * 

[In the beginning of this letter he touches upon his pedigree. " I have 
found," says he, " a valuable counsellor in our kinsman Doct. Hall, for such 
he is, his great-grandfather, on the mother's side, being Robert BoUing, brother 
to Drury Boiling, my maternal great-grandfather, from whom you are removed 
one generation farther ; which Di-ury and Robert were sons of Robert B. (of 
the West Riding of York, Boiling Hall, near Bradford) by his second wife. 
Miss Stith, his first being the grand-daughter of Pocahontas, by whom he had 
•one son, John, from whom, by his wife Mary Kennon, my paternal grand- 
mother sprung. From this first marriage descend the Boilings of Chesterfield 
and Buckingham in the male line, and the Charles Randolphs, Flemings, Grays, 
Eldridges, and Murrays, in the female."] 

We give a letter to a friend in New York, Captain , with whom he 

had sailed to Liverpool, as letting us into the secret of his circumstances, of his 
income, and the wise economy with which he guarded it. 

" Cartersville (on James' River), April 30th, 1828. 
" My dear Captain : Just as 1 mounted my horse on Monday morning at 
Waslujigton, your truly welcome and friendly letter was put into my hands. I 
arrived here this evening a little before sunset, after a ride on horseback of thirty- 
five miles. Pretty well, you'll say, for a man whose lungs are bleeding, and 
with a church-yard cough, which gives so much pleasure to some of your New 
York editors of newspapers. But to me, a horse is what a ship is to you. I 
am never so easy as when in the saddle. Nevertheless, if a gentleman (we are 
all gentlemen now-a-days) who received upwards of 300 pounds sterling for 
me, merely to hand it over, had not embezzled it by applying it to his own use, 



122 BIOGRAPHY OF 

I should be a passenger with you on the 8th. I tried to raise money by the sale 
of some property, that only twelve months ago I was teased to part with, lots 
and houses in Farmsville, seventy miles above Petersburgh on the Appomato.v, 
but could not last week get a bid for it. I have known land (part good wood 
land) sell for one dollar an acre, that ten years ago would have commanded ten 
dollars, and last year five or six. Four fine negroes sold for three hundied and 
fifty dollars, and so in proportion. But I must quit this wretched subject. My 
pay as member of Congress is worth more than my best and most productive 
property, for which a few years ago I could have got ^80,00.0, exclusive of 
slaves and stock. I gave a few years ago $27,000 for one estate, without a 
house or a fence on it. After putting it in fine order, I found that so far from 
making one per cent., or one half or one quarter of one per cent., it does not 
clear expenses by about f^750 per annum, over and above all the crops. Yet I 
am to be taxed for the benefit of wool-spinners, &c., to destroy the whole navi- 
gating interest of the United States ; and we find representatives from New 
Bedford, Cape Anne, Marblehead, and Salem and Newburyport^ voting for this, 
if they can throw the molasses overboard to lighten the ship tariff. She is a 
pirate under a black flag. 

" If I had ten pounds to spare, I would order one of Roskell's best watches 
in a silver case (without second-hands) — but I am as poor as a rat ! I am glad 
the hams proved good. 

" And now, my dear Captain and gallant ship, farewell. Pleasant and pros- 
perous gales attend you. 

" JOHN RANDOLPH, of Roanoke." 



CHAPTER VII 



HIS CHARACTER. 



The most diflJcult part remains to be performed, a description of Mr. Ran- 
dolph's character. This has been in a partial manner developed, as we have 
proceeded by degrees to unfold his political and private life, .so that the reader 
may already form a tolerable estimate of his pretensions in the twofold relation 
in which he has been presented. " Take him all in all, he was a man whose 
like we may never see again." He was " sui generis," and as such, it is next 
to impossible for the biographer to classify or fix his proper rank in the scale of 
human destiny. It is difficult to find a parallel (the usual recourse of Plutarch 
and his successors), to draw a comparison bet^veen him and any known person- 
age in ancient or modern times, as a more familiar and invariable standai'd from 
which to infer their respective merits, and thus form a correct and imparlia 
decision. From what is known and admitted, by juxtaposition or contrast, we 
might be enabled by induction, to learn what was before unknown. He was 
elevate 1 so high above his cotemporaries by the greatness and originahty of his 
genius, like a " winged Mercury newly alighted on a heaven-kissing hill," as 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 123 

well as from his strong aristocratic prejudices, his pride and selfish qualities, 
that we are not permitted to approach near enough to catch the delicate linea- 
ments of his physiognomy. 

As an orator, he was more splendid than solid; as a politician, he wanted the 
profound views of a great statesman, and a larger stock of patience, gentleness, 
and pliability, to lead and guide a party successfully in its struggle for power, 
while he was too intolerant and indocile to be led by one, or to go through the 
drillings and discipline required as a regular in the ranks. He was incapable of 
the confinement, the application, and the drudgery of office. His genius, to use 
one of his favorite figures (which is not original, but borrowed from Swift), might 
be compared to a fine-edged knife, used for the common purpose of severing 
paper, that is apt to slip or turn aside from the right line, and endanger the 
hand of the operator, while a man of more moderate abilities, but of business 
habits, who Tnight be likened to an ivory folder, will go through the task 
smoothly and steadily, though of a duller edge or more homely material. He 
wanted consistency of political conduct, as well as a uniform and acknowledged 
code of principles, and no party could, during the short period of his fortuitous 
junction, calculate upon any two successive votes, when the emergency arose 
that required them. He was possessed of a fine taste for literature, a general 
reader, a " ripe scholar," particularly in the department of Belles Lettres ; by 
which acquirements he was well supplied with apt illustrations to embellish 
and enrich his oratory. He levied his contributions from the wide dominions of 
ancient and modern literature, with the undisputed authority of a conqueror, 
which he stored away in his capacious memory, as an inexhaustible magazine, 
to distribute with judicious discrimination upon every subject that arose in 
debate. Although in the course of his long political career of more than thirty 
years, he spoke volumes, and some of his speeches towards the close of it 
were rather verbose and irrelevant, yet he never failed during some part of 
them, to arouse and astonish his audience by some classical allusions, happy 
similes, " some tlioughls that breathed and words that burned," some beautiful 
and strikbig metaphor, and most melliiluous and harmonious periods. Even 
now, in reading those speeches (although so much is lost in their delivery), 
while we may have to penetrate through a heap of chaff (if anything of his may 
be so abused in terms), in reaching the kernel or grain, we are abundantly re- 
warded in the richness if not in the abundance of the product. He was listened 
to with undivided attention ; and although the mind might not be chained and 
carried captive in the triumphant march of a gigantic intellect, by the depth of 
research and the force of reasoning, yet was it fascinated, won, and unresistingly 
carried along, as by a spell, by the ease, the grace, the fluency, and the pleasing 
emphatic delivery of the speaker. His sallies of wit, his biting sarcasm, his 
happy retorts and home-thrusts, his satiric turn or his playful humor, rendered 
him a more agreeable and popular speaker than others who were more severe 
and elaborate. If ridicule be the test of truth, he had a mo.st eflfectual way of 
drawing her into the light of all the orators of his day; he possessed the rare 
art of trying the measures and the opinions of the prominent men to whom it 



124 BIOGRAPHY OP 

was his destiny to be regularly opposed, by that touchstone ; and by it to hold 
them up to the derision or censure of the people. With this powerful lever, he 
could shake if not move from its foundations any administration. That it con- 
tributed in no small degree to subvert that of the second Adams, no man can 
doubt who witnessed his repeated and dexterous attacks, and obseiTed the effects 
of his peculiar mode of w^arfare. The public were but gratified spectators of 
these exhibitions of this successful combatant upon the political arena, while 
the Senate chamber was become a national amphitheatre from which to enjoy 
them, from that weakness, not to call it depravity of human nature, that derives 
an innate pleasure at the sight of suffering or misfortune in others, while itself 
remains secure from harm or danger. He delighted in opposition, it was his 
element, his pabulum of political existence. He could not swim with the cur- 
rent, but preferred to buflet and to breast it manfully and unyieldingly. " The 
elements were so mixed in him," that it is difficult for any one to hold him up 
to the world and " say this was a man, and challenge its confirmation." He 
"Was not much respected as a politician, nor beloved as a man. His friends 
feared him too much to love him, for although these two passions may 
be blended in the same breast as regards an infinite being, it is a most difficult 
task to unite them as an offering on the altar of private friendship. 

The tenure of his friendship's assurance was too frail to render it sincere or 
ardent. The many sudden transitions on his part, from avowed friendship to 
its opposite, upon trivial and unsatisfactory grounds, rendered the enlistment of 
new recruits in his ranks too discoursing to keep them supplied, and thus he 
was left in the sad predicament of dying almost friendless. He appeared to be 
too far removed beyond the common sphere of human attraction (while he re- 
volved in a most eccentric one), to receive the genial warmth of friendship, and 
too frigid and repulsive to communicate it in turn. Yet, in listening to his con- 
versation, or in perusing his letters, you find he employs all the terms and ex- 
pressions consecrated to the service of that holy passion. To his young rela- 
tives, some of whom he had educated, he breathed, at times, the warmest pro- 
fessions of aflfection ; and, for short periods, during the innocence and unsuspect- 
ing guilelessness of their boyhood, they received more substantial proofs of it. 
He left them nothing out of his immense fortune, but preferred to dispose of it 
capriciously to others, or to the supererogatory foundation of a college. We may 
be asked, were there no virtues, no redeeming qualities in the character of Mr. 
Randolph, as a counterbalance to this long array of antagonist ones I It were 
hardly credible that there were not. We are forced to admit some of a negative 
kind. His charity, which, from his means and his leading a life of single bless- 
edness, he could have well and abundantly dispensed, went beyond the proverb, 
by not only beginning at home, but ending there. Hfs appetite for money, as 
in all similar cases, " increased with the food it fed on," till it grew insatiable. 
How else can we account for his acceptance of the Russian mission, Avith the 
mental and physical disqualifications under which he labored, and in defiance of 
his open and solemn declarations .' How else account for the sale of his slaves, 
by the disposition of his last will of 1832, after having previously left them 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 125 

free ? What, tlien, are his redeeming virtues, to stand out in bold relief from 
this dark ground, to deserve our applause or gratitude ? He possessed courage 
in a high degree. He had a nice sense of honor — possessed sterling integrity 
and honesty in all his dealings — was incorruptible in integrity, and perfectly 
chaste and pure in his morals. To these we will add his patriotism (though 
rather local or limited to the bounds of his own State), and the extraordinary 
gifts with which nature had endowed him; and, after making every allowance 
for his bodily infomities, in defence of some of his failings, we leave him to 
the gentle reader to pass his own sentence of adjudication upon him, whether 
of censure or approbation, after duly weighing the testimony in the scale of 
even-handed justice. 



CONCLUSION, 

It may be thought a breach of the unities, and a violation of order, again to 
introduce Mr. Randolph, or, in a measure, to cause his resurrection from the 
dead, after the solemn formalities of his death and burial. Had I confined myself 
to the delineation of his character, it would have immediately followed his death, 
as a legitimate and usual conclusion. If we consider him as he has been repre- 
sented in his later years, since he abandoned the lead of the Republican party 
as early as the administration of Jefferson, and joined in opposition to every 
successive one (to which length of time seemed only to add an accumulation of 
force and impulse), as a splendid ruin of what he might have been, a benefac- 
tor of his race, we might in some measure plead a justification of what we 
have added, by assimilating it to a melancholy view, in detail, of the columns 
and pillars and other fragments of this mighty ruin as they arose before us. 

We may also defend our course by considering for a moment the nature of 
the subject on which we treat. For who can expect to be regular and consist- 
ent, and conformable to the strict rules and canons of biographical criticism, in 
giving the sketch of one whose whole life has been one course of irregularity, 
consistent only in inconsistency, and a violation of every principle of moral 
and political harmony .' To be candid, however, I feel that I must, at last, cast 
myself upon the indulgence of the reader, while I confess the simple truth. 
After I had brought to an end the private life (and, as I thought, my labors) of 
the subject of my memoir, in the course of my long and wearisome researches 
through a mass of old documents and piles of public journals, I discovered 
new materials and further particulars tending to develope the featin-es of the 
subject who sat before me, which were too valuable to throw away, and which 
I found (perhaps either in my indolence or want of ingenuity) difficult to dove- 
tail in, or unite with the structure, without going to the trouble and delay of 
taking it to pieces and reconstructing it. I thought it better to follow the ex- 
•ample of a man with a small family, who constructs a house adapted to the 
accommodation of the existing members. Finding his family afterwards in- 
'creasing upon his hands, and requiring more room, he prefers to add a wing to 
12 



126 BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN RANDOLPH. 

demolishing the old, and erecting a new edifice. I have no doubt the reader 
will bear me out in the remark, that any facts, anecdotes, or circumstances re- 
lating to John Randolph, are interesting and appropriate wheresoever placed, 
like a profusion of diamonds in a royal diadem, whose order of arrangement 
is lost in their brilliancy ; or like the desperate, the happy hit of Apelles, who, 
after many vain efforts to finish his picture of a mastiff" by drawing the foam on 
his mouth, in despair threw his sponge at it, and by accident crowned his work 
with success. It may be properly expected that I would not conclude this 
sketch without deciding the important question of Mr. Randolph's sanity. In 
answer to that point, I must declare that I acknowledge myself incompetent to 
judge. I will even admit that, in the worst periods of mental aberration, he 
had ten times more sense than ever I had, which may perhaps only leave the 
question where we found it. On the main point, that on which the happiness 
of our whole lives in this world depends, the promotion of his self-interests 
and his pecuniary independence, if perfect success is the test of sanity, he must 
stand acquitted on that charge. The whole subject, however, has been referred 
to a higher tribunal than any that my frail judgment could afford, the High 
Court of Appeals of Virginia, on the question of the validity of his wills. 
Their decision, in which we must acquiesce, will for ever settle that point, both 
as regards the fact of that " infirmity of great minds," as of the period of its 
occurrence. 



APPENDIX. 



EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH OF JOHN RANDOLPH IN THE SENATE, ON 
THE 20th MARCH, 1826, ON THE PANAMA QUESTION. 

Mr. Branch's resolution, in the following words, being before the Senate : 
Resolved, That the President of the United States does not constitutionally 
possess the right or the power to appoint Ambassadors, or other public minis- 
ters, but with the advice and consent of the Senate, except when vacancies 
occur in the recess. 

Mr. Randolph said — " I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for calling 
up his resolution, which had in his absence been nailed to the table. The gen- 
tleman deserves great credit for having steered his ship into action with manli- 
ness and decision, a frankness, a promptitude, and a fearless intrepidity, that 
scorns all compromise with the foe. He has spoken with the plainness 
that belongs to him, not only as a Southern man, but as a planter. It belongs 
to him as a slaveholder — as one not boimd to electioneer or curry favor with the 
driver of his carriage or the brusher of his shoes, lest when he shall be driven 
to the polls, the one may dismount from the coach-box, and the other lay down 
his shoe-brush and annihilate the master's vote at the election. Lest his servant 
may give him warning, that he may no longer consider him as his help, and go 
as a spy into the family of his enemy, and if he have one, to tell not only what 
he may have seen and heard, but what he never saw and never heard in the 
family of the master. Master, did I say ? No sir, his gentleman. This 
debater and champion of universal suffrage owns no master, he claims the mas- 
tery over you. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina. I trust it will 
turn out in the end, whether our adversaries are born to consume the fruits of 
the earth, 'fruges consumere nati,' or whether or not they belong to the cater- 
pillars of the law, that of us it may be said truly, " nos numerus sumtis." 
That our name, too, is legion. For, sir, we belong to the cause of the party of 
the people, we claim to belong to the majority of the nation. No, sir, I acknow- 
ledge no nation of this confederate republic. For I, too, disclaim any master, 
save that ancient common master, whose feeble and unprofitable servant I 
am. The President himself has confessed that he does not possess the sufTrages 
of the majority, or the confidence enjoyed by Lis predecessors. He is even 
desirous of a new trial. He shall have one, and no thanks to him for it. God 
send him a good deliverance from the majority, and God send the majority a 
good deliverance from him. Having thus, sir, disburdened myself of some of 



128 APPENDIX. 

the feelings excited by the gallant bearing of the gentleman from North Caro- 
lina. Allow me to go on and question some of his positions. One of them is, 
the durability of the Constitution. With him and with Father Paul (of the Con- 
stitution of Venice) I say ' esto perpetua.' But I do not believe it will be per- 
petual. I am speaking now of what Burke would call high matter. I am not 
speaking to the groundlings, to the tyros and junior apprentices, but to the grey- 
headed men of this nation, one of whom, I bless God for it, I see is now stepping 
forward as he stepped forward in 1799, to save the republic. I speak of William 
B. Giles. I speak to grey heads, heads grown grey, not in the receipt of custom 
at the treasury of the people's money, not to heads grown grey in pacing 
Pennsylvania avenue, not grown grey in wearing out their shoes at levees, nor 
to heads grown grey (to use the words of the immortal Miss Edgeworth, the 
glory and champion of her sex and her wretched country), in ploughing the four 
acres. There is a little court, sir, of the castle of Dublin, called the four acres, 
and there, backwards and forwards, do the miserable attendants and satellites of 
power walk, each waiting his turn to receive the hght of the great man's coun- 
tenance, hoping the sunsliine, dreading the clouded brow. 

' Ah ! little knowest thou, that hast not tried, 

What hell it is in suing long to bide, 

To lose good days that might be better spent, 

To waste long nights in pensive discontent,' &c., &c. 

" Spencer has well described the secrets of this life, and technically it is called 
ploughing the four acres. Now when a certain character in one of her incom- 
parable novels, Sir Uiric, 1 have forgotten his name, but he was a Macsyco, 
phant courtier, placeman, pensioner, and parasite, upbraided that good-hearted, 
wrong-headed old man, King Croney, with his wretched system of ploughing, 
the king of the Black Islands (every inch a king), replied, ' there was one sys- 
tem of ploughing worse than his, and that was, ploughing the four acres.' This 
was a settler to the Macsycophant. 

" We are now making an experiment which has never succeeded in any 
quarter on earth, from the deluge to this day. With regard to the antediluvian 
times, history is not very full, but there is no proof it has ever succeeded before 
the flood. One thing we do know, it has never succeeded since the flood, and 
as there is no proof of its having succeeded before the flood, as ' de non appu' 
rentibus et non existentibus ea/lem est ratio,' it is good logic to infer, that it never 
has succeeded and never can succeed anywhere. In fact the ' onus probandi' 
lies with them that hold the other side of the question ; for although ' post hoc 
ergo propter hoc' be not good logic, yet when we find the same consequences 
generally following the same events, it requires nothing short of the scepticism 
of Mr. Hume to deny that there is no connection between the one and the other, 
whatever, metaphysically speaking, there may be of necessary connection between 
cause and effect. I say, then, that we are making an experiment which has 
never succeeded in any time or country, and which, as God shall judge me at the 
great and final day, I do in my heart believe will here fail, because I see and feel 



APPENDIX. 129 

that it is now failing. It is an infirmity of my nature, it is constitutional, it was 
bom with me, and has caused the misery (if you will) of my hfe ; it is an in- 
firmity of my nature to have an obstinate preference of the true over the agree- 
able, and I am satisfied if I had an only son, or an only daughter — which God 
forbid — I say, God forbid, for she might bring her father's grey hairs with sor- 
row to the grave, and she might break my heart, — worse than that — what ! I 
might break hers — I should be more sharp-sighted to her foibles than any one 
else. Sir, as much as they talk about filial ingratitude, ' how sharper than a 
serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child.' How much more does it run 
counter to all the great instincts of our nature, planted for good and wise pur- 
poses in our bosoms — not in our heads, but in our hearts, Ly the Author of all 
good — that the mother should be imkind to the babe that milks her, the father 
cruel to his own child. They are well called unnatural parents, for it is a well 
known law of nature, that the stream of succession and inheritance, whether of 
property or affection, is in the descending line. I say in my conscience and in 
my heart, I believe this experiment will fail, and if it should not fail, blessed be 
the Author of all good for snatching this people as a brand from the burning, 
which has consumed as a stubble all the nations, all the fruit trees of the earth, 
which before us have been cut down and cast into the fire. Why cumbereth 
it the ground .' Cut it down, cut it down. I beheve that it will fail ; but, sir, if 
it does not fail, its success will be owing to the resistance of the usurpation of 
one man by a power which was not unsuccessful in resisting another man of the 
same name and the same race. I do not believe that a free republican govern- 
ment is compatible with the apery of European fashions and manners, with the 
apery of European luxuries and habits. But if it were so, I do know that it is 
incompatible with what I have in my hand, a 1 ase and baseless system of foreign 
diplomacy, and a hardly better system of exchange. I speak of paper money, 
under whatever form it may exist, whether in the shape of an old Continental 
Spanish milled dollar, printed on paper, and in the promise to pay, which pro- 
mise is never intended to be redeemed, of the sound significant (a word for the 
thing signified), dollar — of the emblem, multiplied at will, for the reality, which 
has an actual, if not a fixed value ; for there is, and can be no michangeable 
■standard of value. It is worse than shadow for substance, for shadow implies 
some substance, while a promise to pay dollars, implies neither ability nor incli- 
nation to pay cents. * * * 

" Another objection is to the unreasonableness of the gentleman from North 
Carolina, in attempting at this time of day to alter the form of our government, 
as established by the practice under the Constitution. Now, sir, the practice 
under the Constitution was settled in this way, in the two first instances : that 
the Vice President succeed the President. At that time the President opened 
Parliament, or Congress, by a speech from the throne, but since that time the 
practice has been settled another way. Since the revolution of 1801, the prac- 
tice has been settled that the Secretary of State succeed the President. Hence it 
is, that the Secretaryship of State is the apple of discord under all the adminis- 
trations succeeding that of Mr. Jefferson. It was the bone of contention between 



130 APPENDIX. 

Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Robert Smith. There are here now more, besides myself 
{looking at Mr. Macon), that know it. It has been the apple of discord, aye,- 
and of concord too, since. It has been the favorite post and position of eveiy 
bad ambitious man, whether apostate, federalist, or apostate republican, who 
wishes to get into the presidency, ' per fas aut nefas" — ' rem quocunque modo 
rem, rede si ■possu'' — honestly if they can, corruptly if they must. It has been 
that which Archimedes wanted to move the world {Pou sto), a place to stand 
upon, aye, and to live upon too, and with the lever of patronage to move our 
little world. * * * * 

" Tliis is the first* administration that has ope^ily run the principle of patron- 
age against that of patriotism — that has unblushingly avowed, aye, and exe- 
cuted its purpose of buying us up with our own money. Sir, there is honor 
among thieves ! Shall it be wanting then among the chief captains of our 
administration ? I hope not, sir. Let Judas have his thirty pieces of silver, 
whatever disposition he may choose to make of them : whether they shall go to 
buy a Potter's field, in which to inter this miserable constitution of ours, cruci- 
fied between two gentlemen, suffering for conscience' sake under the biuden of 
the two first offices of the government ; forced upon one of them by the forms 
of the Constitution, against its spirit and his own, which is grieved that the ques- 
tion cannot be submitted to the people. Or, whether he shall do that justice to 
himself which the finisher of the law is not, as yet, permitted to do for him^ 
is quite immaterial. Judas having done the work, ' It is finished i' » * * The 
gentlemen from North Carolina must not complain that they are working in the 
vocation, ' 'Tis my vocation, Hal — 'tis your vocation !' Be it our vocation to 
call them to a more suitable vocation. * * * 

" After twent}^-sLx hours' exertion, it was time to give in. I was defeated, 
horse, foot, and dragoons ; cut up and clean broke down by the coalition of 
Blifil and Black George— by the combination, unheard of till then, of Puri- 
tan and Blackleg. There is a story related in Gil Bias, of one Scipio, the son of 
Coscolina, that entered into the service of Don Abel, that carried him to Seville, 
and on a certain occasion, coming home from a card-table with bad luck (that 
will sour the temper of even the mildest; I have seen even ladies not bear losses 
at the card-table very well), he gave Scipio a box on the ear because he had not 
done something which he had not ordered him to do, but which is the part of a 
good servant to have done without being ordered. Scipio goes to tell his story to 
a bravo, and tells him his master is going to leave Seville, and that as the vessel 
rims down the Guadalquiver he shall leave him. • If this is your plan of 
revenge,' says the bravo, ' your honor is gone for ever. Not only do this, 
but rob him ; take his strong box with you.' Scipio at that time had not 
conceived the atrocious idea of adding robbery to a breach of trust, but agreed 
to the proposition. As they were descending the staircase, the bravo, strong 
as Hercules in carrying off other people's goods, met Don Abel, with the 
box on his shoulders. The bravo puts down the coffer and takes to his 

" May it not be asked, ia 1843, if it be the last ? 



APPENDIX. 131 

heels, and Scipio awaits the issue of his master's wrath. ' What are you 
doing with my cofier ?' ' I am going to take it to the ship.' ' Who told 
you to do so.'' 'Nobody.' 'What is the name of the ship?' 'I don't 
know ; but I have a tongue in my head : I can learn.' ' Why did you 
carry off my coffer ?' ' Did you not chastise me the other day for not having 
done something you never ordered ?' Abel's reply was : ' My friend, go about 
your business ; I never play with men who sometimes have a card too many, 
and sometimes a card too few.' It shall be my business to prove, at some 
period, that this is the predicament of your present ministry — whereas, on a 
certain occasion, they had a card too few — on another, a card too many, or e 
converso." 

This speech occupied three hours in the delivery, and five or six columns of 
the Intelligencer ; too long to give entire, but the sample which we have pre- 
sented is sufficient to show the peculiarity of Mr. Randolph's style. It is ex- 
tremely desultory, and may be called a digression upon digressions, in which 
almost every subject is touched upon but the one before the Senate. At the be- 
ginning, the middle, or the ending, an auditor might well ask, " What is the 
question before the House ?" He was tolerated, however, and gained general 
attention, on account of the entertainment he aflbrded by his wit, his humor, and 
his inimitable sarcasm. In that, as well as his speech afterwards on the Judi- 
ciary Bill, nothing could divert him from fastening upon the administration, 
with the most tenacious and deadly malevolence. In reading this speech, one 
is reminded of the celebrated letter of Tiberius to the Roman Senate, in accusa. 
tion of his prime minister, Sejanus. Juvenal justly satirizes the emperor's ex- 
ordium, " of what to say, or what not to say, may the supernal and infernal 
gods fall on me if I know." He goes on, then, to introduce the subject by in- 
stancing the many favors he had showered upon the favorite, whom he had 
made his confidential adviser, and elevated above the highest ranks, and who, 
being led to believe he was about to receive a crowning act of royal munificence, 
in being jointly invested with him in the tribunitial dignity, was present to 
hear the reading of the letter. The emperor branches off on some other politi- 
cal topic, but returns again with symptoms of rising discontent. He then takes 
another long detour, but turns again upon the late favorite, still more pointed 
in his charges. He makes a third, and finally a fourth digression, rising in 
wrath at each return, when he bursts upon poor Sejanus like a clap of thxmder, 
and conunands the Senate to take order for his instant punishment. The sen- 
tence remained only to be registered by that enslaved and obsequious body, and 
the pretorian prefect, having previously been cajoled out of the command of the 
guards, was perfectly paralyzed, and was led, without resistance, to his execu- 
tion. The consequence of Mr. Randolph's most unmerited nickname of black- 
leg, as applied to Mr. Clay, ended in the well-known meeting between them, 
and resulted in the amende hoyiorahle, after an exchange of shots, from Mr. Ran- 
dolph. We may be allowed here to notice two incidents accompanying these 
speeches of Mr. Randolph. The friends of the administration blamed Mr. Cal- 



132 APPENDIX. 

houn very much, as the Vice President and presiding officer of the Senate, for 
allowing Mr. Randolph such free license in the use of such hitter personalities 
against the President and Secretary of State, — in fact, permitting him to violate 
the rules of the Senate, without calling him to order. Mr. Calhoun took occa- 
sion, in his place, to vindicate his course, and justified his conduct by objecting 
his want of power — his functions being more limited than those of the Speaker 
of the House of Representatives. 

The next circumstance to be alluded to, was a charge made in the United 
States Telegraph, being copied from the Boston Commercial Gazette, purport- 
ing to be an extract from a letter of a gentleman at Washington, and giving Mr 
Tims, the door-keeper of the Senate, as authority, that, during the delivery of 
one of his infamous speeches, Mr. Randolph drank six bottles of porter, two 
glasses of gin, and one of brandy. In a card published in the Intelligencer of 
the 19th of June, 1836, Mr. Tims most solemnly declared, before the God of 
heaven and all the world, that he never did make use of any such expressions, 
or authorized any person to say so, and pronomiced the whole to be a base and 
infamous falsehood. I presume the mistake may have arisen from Mr. Ran- 
dolph's drinking toast and water, and calling out, " More water, Tims," which 
might have been mistaken for " More porter, Tims." Mr. Randolph was ex- 
tremely irritable from ill health — his life being only a long disease. His com- 
plaint was principally gastro-enteritis and nervous excitabihty ; and I recollect 
well the opinion which a young physician and myself formed of his constitu- 
tion, in 1809, that, as soon as he got well, he would die. Wo considered his 
genius, his originality, his fervid imagination, his readiness as an extemporaneous 
speaker, as caused by a morbid excitement of the nerves of tiie brain, and that, 
when that excitement was withdrawn, a translation of the disease would ensue 
upon a vital part, and death or fatuity would follow. This state of irritabihty 
brought him in successive collisions with all his friends but Mr. Garnet, and, 
among the rest, with General Smythe, his colleague, whom he attacked about 
the session of 1819-20, for some criticisms he bestowed on a proclamation of the 
President. Randolph, in return, animadverted upon Smythe's famous proclama- 
tion during the fall of 1814, on the Niagara frontier, where he called upon 
volunteers to come in by scores, by pairs or units, on horseback or foot, and 
bore so hard upon him, that Smythe called him to order. A gentleman being 
present at our mess, at the commencement of that session, in November, 1813, 
told Mr. Randolph that Smythe was preparing to cross the river and attack the 
enemy at Queenstown, and asked him if he had any commands to the General, 
as he was boimd immediately to head-quarters. " Tell Sm5^he that I, John 
Randolph, say, that if he attempts to cross the river, he Avill get Ucked." 
Whether this message, like Richard the Third's dream, hung like a dead weight 
about the General, he certainly came to a most lame and impotent conclusion in 
that attempt; and, after embarking over about half his men, retreated to the 
American side, leaving the first division to be well " licked." 




BIOGRAPHY 



JOHN RANDOLPH, 



OF ROANOKE, 



■<5 '"' 



A SELECTION EHOM HIS SPEECHES. 



BY / 



LEMUEL SAWYER, 

FORKKRLT Of NORTH CAXOUKA, AND FOR SIZTEIM YEARS AN ASIOCIATS IN CONORBM WITB 



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